Friend Or Foe
by Jade Storms
Summary: The story of who Mac's stalker really is, and why. FlackStella, MacOC. Rating for language and violence. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Routines were like habits. Once you got into them, it was very hard to get out of them.

Unfortunately, this was not just some annoying habit that could be cured by putting Tabasco sauce underneath your fingernails. And it wasn't a routine where he could just sleep until noon to get himself out of it. No, it was much harder and more complicated than that. Every night, he would still wake up, whether he'd been sound asleep or not, at 3:33 AM. The calls he had been receiving for so long had turned him into somewhat of a sleepless zombie. He had gotten so used to getting the calls and ignoring him that he almost hadn't noticed when they'd stopped. The first few nights after they had stopped, he'd been paranoid, worried that whoever it was, was just playing with his mind and would be calling at any minute. But as the days had gone on, he'd gotten more and more relaxed, letting his relief show and finally allowing himself to relax. It still wasn't enough. He still wanted answers. Who could blame him? He still hadn't gotten any names off the passenger manifest for his flight. He still had no idea where the bloody shirt had come from, or who the blood belonged to. It was a series of dead ends and people were telling him to relax, it had just been a stalker. Just a stalker? Had the world gone mad? The last time he looked, being stalked was not a good thing. It led to people getting hurt, often more than just one person and it made you paranoid, frightened and it sometimes got to the point where you wouldn't even look out your window for fear that you would come face to face with your stalker. Whatever his case may have been, Mac Taylor could not rest and he wouldn't rest until he knew who had been causing him such agony. The incident with the voodoo priestess was still fresh in his mind and every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was 333. It was killing him.

With a frustrated sigh, he craned his neck just in time to see the clock switch to 3:33 AM. His gaze immediately went to his cell phone which was on his nightstand, heart pounding as the screen lit up and the phone began to ring. So his stalker had only been luring him into a false sense of security. You should never trust someone who was stalking you, never. Out of curiosity, he leaned further over to read the screen and what he saw surprised him. Stella. He snatched the phone, hitting a random key to accept the call. "Taylor." He barked.

There was a short pause. "Mac? Is everything okay?"

He winced, realizing he sounded edgy and slightly angry. He wasn't one to lie his way out of something, but he didn't feel like talking about his 'problem' with anyone else at the moment. "Yeah, yeah, just watching this documentary on houses that are supposedly really haunted." He added a short laugh, trying to lighten his mood up.

"Uh-huh." She wasn't fooled. Stella Bonasera knew him well, and sometimes he had to wonder if it was a little too well. Thankfully, she didn't push the matter and instead cleared her throat and the sound of shuffling papers could be heard over the cell phone. "Listen, I need your help at a scene over in Central Park. Feeling up to it?"

He smiled even though she couldn't see it. "Of course. Give me twenty minutes and I'll be there." He would, of course, be there before twenty minutes was up but he liked to give himself a little extra time just in case, especially when he was as tired as he was. Maybe while he was getting dressed, he'd make a pot of coffee.. "I'll see you then, okay?"

"Yup." She sounded bright and cheerful despite the time of night, or morning depending on how you looked at it. But that was Stella for you. He hung up the phone, setting it back into his place. His room was dark except for the light from the street-lamps that shone slightly through his curtains. He sighed once again, swinging his feet over the side of the bed and getting up. It was going to be a long day.

_**CSI NY**_

".. Maybe he got stuck in traffic."

"What, the everyday 4:00 AM traffic?… Wait, never mind."

There was laughter coming from the crime scene and what little he'd heard of the conversation made him smile. The crime scene was deep into the park, the tape circling an area around a bloody park bench and a closer glance revealed a bloody body on the concrete. He grimaced slightly at it-- things like this didn't bother him anymore, but the amount of blood was somewhat sickening. Another glance at the scene revealed that only one person he knew was at the crime scene-- Don Flack. Beside the tall detective was a much shorter blonde that didn't seem familiar and the dozens of Police Officers didn't look familiar either. As he got closer to the scene, he snapped on a few layers of latex gloves and ducked under the yellow tape.

"Hey, it's my man! The one and only Mac Taylor." Flack gave him a smirk , going forward to clap Mac on the back. He looked slightly more relaxed than usual, dressed in a simple black polo and jeans, very similar to what Mac was wearing. Mac guessed that he'd decided to ditch the suit at this time in the morning, if he hadn't been out already. Mac laughed slightly, glancing at the girl before turning back to Flack.

"Where's Stella? She's the one who called me out here." Mac frowned slightly, hoping the woman didn't take offense to his words. She actually beat Flack to his words, finally speaking up with an expression that mirrored the other's perfectly.

"She had an emergency. Something about a friend breaking something at a club." Her voice was on the low side, icy and sweet at the same time. She didn't sound like she was trying to kiss ass and that pleased Mac. "I'm Detective Holmes, by the way. Julie Holmes."

"Really, I would have guessed Sherlock." Mac answered dryly, leaning over to inspect the body as Flack began laughing. Julie rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"I'll let it slide. Anyway, back to business. The Vic is twenty-seven year old Mia Harper, single, works as a receptionist for a Law Firm a few blocks away. We don't know what COD is yet, but I'm guessing it has to do with that gaping hole in her forehead." There was a slight sarcastic edge to the woman's voice as she spoke and Mac noted it as he leaned down, making a small noise. Holmes was right. There was an enormous, round hole in her forehead. More than likely from a shotgun.

By the time Mac was finished processing the scene, the sun had been up for quite some time. Flack and Holmes had drifted off to take care of other things and follow up on leads and the like, the body probably already under Sid Hammerback's hands. As he began loading his things back into the black Avalanche, he looked around, mind suddenly drifting back to Stella. She'd called him to the scene, and then when he'd gotten there she'd been gone. He wondered if there really had been an accident with a friend. Had she been acting funny on the phone? He was too tired to remember, or even tell. He made a mental note to ask her about her friend the next time he saw her and climbed into his truck, leaving the park and the crime scene behind.

**Author's Note: First off, a HUUUUUUUGE thanks to Dawni for not only giving me the idea for this story, but the title. I owe her big time! This story is for her.**


	2. Chapter 2

The lab was quiet, unusual for the time of day. He did notice a large group working away in the labs, but his lack of sleep was getting to him and everything sounded far off and low. His ears were still ringing from some kid who had been blaring music from his tiny little car at a red light. For some reason, he was just nervous today and the abnormal amount of caffeine he was going to consume today probably wouldn't help.

He dropped into the lab, handing a tech who he recognized as a Meredith Wayne. She smiled when she took the evidence from him and wished him a good day. He smiled back, then continued to his office where he was grateful to drop himself into his chair and stare out into the city. It was about eleven in the morning, the city already in full swing. He let himself get lost in the picture for awhile, his case completely slipping his mind. It wasn't until someone cleared their throat behind him, that he was jarred back into the present and he raised his eyebrows, swiveling to see who it was.

A smiling Stella stood there, looking tired but cheerful as she rocked on her toes, playing with her ring. "Hey, Mac."

"Stella. Hmm, where've you been?" His words were closely followed by a yawn and he realized it was a rather stupid question to ask, considering he knew where she'd been.

"Oh, I was up at Trinity General with my friend, Ellen. She was out clubbing and broke her foot." Stella spoke carefully, almost as if she was thinking about what she said before she actually said it. Unusual for several different reasons. Her smile seemed to falter for a minute and he frowned but just as soon as he was about to ask her if she was okay, her smile was back and brighter than ever. "She got some pain meds so she's not too whiny. Sorry I wasn't at the scene, I told Julie to let you know.."

Mac smiled faintly. "Yeah, she told me. I was still kind of curious though, I can't help it. So does Sherlock work for us and I just didn't know it?" He started twisting his chair back and forth, a habit he barely realized he had. Stella cocked her head at him for a minute, as if they were playing charades and she was trying to figure out who or what he was.

"Julie works with Flack. She has for a few years now. You've never met her?"

Mac shook his head absentmindedly, staring at his phone thoughtfully. Stella fell silent, watching him for several minutes until she finally spoke up. "Still not sleeping are you?"

He once again shook his head. "No. I keep thinking that whoever it is, is going to call back or do something worse. No matter what, I always wake up at 3:33 and I can't go back to sleep. Most of the time I wasn't even asleep beforehand."

Stella sat down across from him, resting her arms on the front of his desk and sighing. "Have you thought about talking to someone?"

"A shrink? What are they going to do for me, besides weasel outrageous amounts of money out of me. Plus, I don't want my integrity challenged, thank you."

She gave him a half smile. "So I take it none of the big bosses know about your little stalker?"

He shrugged. "A few. None of them are too concerned with it, they've got bigger fish to fry." He suddenly felt uncomfortable talking about it and decided to change the subject. "So how's life? I haven't talked to you in awhile."

She waved her hand. "Oh, you know the same old same old. At least I don't have boyfriends trying to kill me." She was able to joke about Frankie now, but Mac could still see a strain. She smiled at him, then got up. "Well, good luck on the case. I have to go see Adam about some tests results." She waved at him before skirting out of his office, leaving Mac rather confused. He shook it off. Any paranoia he was experiencing was because of his stalker, and that was it.

… Wasn't it?

_**CSI NY**_

A thick fog had settled itself over the city. It was early in the morning, probably about six-thirty. He'd been jogging for forty-five minutes, daring to traipse into Central Park. He made it out just fine, glancing at his watch and deciding it was time for a coffee break. He was weary of small coffee shops now, and everything seemed to happen at Starbucks, but he chose the latter out of pure paranoia. He noticed that was happening a lot lately, but shrugged it off. He was stressed.

The other customers gave him an odd look when he ordered a simple black coffee. He didn't feel like experimenting. He had just retreated to a quiet corner by the window when a somewhat familiar voice met his ears.

"Somehow, I never saw for a Starbucks kind of guy." He looked up to see Julie Holmes staring down at him. The blonde was wearing a NYU sweatshirt and loose jeans, looking more relaxed than she had the last time he saw her. Her hair was pulled back and she looked slightly tired, though her smiling face and sparkling green eyes revealed that she was wide awake. He chuckled, glancing down at his coffee.

"Weird thing is, neither did I. And what about you? Giving in to popularity and calling it quits?" He raised an eyebrow at her with a teasing smile. She rolled her eyes as she sat down in a seat across from him, blowing out her breath.

"Pfft. Please, I drink espresso and when I drink regular coffee, I go down to this German Coffee shop a few blocks from my apartment." She gave him a toothy smile. "Germans make strong coffee."

"Then what are you doing here?" He challenged, leaning back into his seat as he sipped at the still steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

"I'm stalking you. Come on! Like I would even know where to start, I'm just joking. I'm here because I wanted to try their new espresso blends." She added at his suddenly sobered look. "Take a joke will you?"

"Yeah, sorry." He waved his hand at her. "So, why I haven't I met you?"

She paused for a second, sliding her gaze discreetly across the room, studying the people around her. "Well, for the first few months I was there, I hardly met anyone from your team. Then I started working with Flack a lot. Then last year.. I was shot, and only recently got back to work." She smiled softly, turning her gaze back to him. Mac felt sympathy for her, but didn't show it and chose not to offer his apologies. Some people didn't like it and he could tell she was uncomfortable just talking about it.

"So you working today?" His voice was lower than he'd expected it and unnerved him slightly. His emotions felt like they were on a roller coaster lately and the awkward air that had settled over the pair wasn't helping.

"No, actually. I just got off shift a few hours ago." She laughed slightly. "I went home, couldn't sleep so I thought I'd get some coffee. How stupid was that.."

He chuckled. "It's the life of a Detective. Or a cop. When's your next shift?"

"Tomorrow. You?"

"Today." He grimaced. "And I didn't sleep either."

She hesitated before speaking again. "Detective Taylor.."

"Mac, please." He smiled.

"Mac.. I just wanted to ask you something about what Don said--" She was interrupted, however, by her cell phone. The consistent beeping gave Mac a headache and he was grateful when she silenced it. "Well, it seems I'm bionic woman here.." She looked up with a small smile. "That's my cue to go. But.. Maybe I could ask you about it later? If I see you?" She added quickly. He almost laughed at that.

"Sure." He nodded. "Try not to get shot, hmm?"

"I can only try."

**_CSI NY_**

"Hmm.. He sure was talking with Julie."

"Who knows.. Maybe there's something there. It'd be ironic, really."

"Ironic? How so?"

"Well obviously his days are numbered.. Do you think she was going to ask him about his stalker?"

"Probably." The low voice was chuckling as the other squealed. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Everything set up?"

"Yep. He's not stupid so it won't kill him.. Scare him on the other hand…"

Another laugh. "Have I told you I love you?"

"Yes. But you can tell me again.

"I love you. Shall we go watch the fireworks?"

"We shall."


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a long day.

He and Danny had taken a floater in the Hudson , which hadn't been a pretty sight. Adam had been sparring with a new Tech which had not only given him a headache, but annoyed him. And to top the day off, Stella wouldn't leave him alone. She insisted upon bringing him coffee, case files and everything else. He was surprised she hadn't offered to get him some slippers. She was constantly asking him if he needed anything it was all he could do not to loose his cool and scream at her to stop. Finally, she'd gone home and now he himself was getting ready to go. With a tired sigh, he put the last of his case files on his desk , searching amongst the mess for his car keys. He found them, suddenly feeling like he was either forgetting something or hadn't done something. But ten minutes later, he still had no idea what it could possibly be and gave up. It was all he could do not to fall asleep in the elevator, finally exiting the building and heading to the side of the building where his truck was parked. The truck was flanked by two cruisers, both substantially spaced from his vehicle, which he found somewhat odd but shook it off. If he kept on like this, he was going to turn on everyone he knew and he really didn't want that to happen. As he walked closer to the truck, he pulled out his keys and was just about to hit the unlock button--

_KABOOM!_

The explosion sent him flying ungraciously backward, landing roughly on his back several feet away from where he'd been standing. Chunks of the car went spiraling through the air, one piece barely missing his head as he sat there in stunned silence. He heard voices behind him but couldn't comprehend what they were saying, his mind racing as he stared at the blazing truck, his heart having a hard time deciding whether to stop or pound.

His stalker was back.

**_CSI NY_**

"Hmm.. I think we did pretty good."

There was a slight scoff. "Yeah, but he was supposed to be closer." The words were closely followed by a whine.

"Oh well. It still worked out."

There was a slight pause. "Too bad I have to go. But I'll catch you later."

"Don't forget the C4.."

**_CSI NY_**

"You're getting to be pretty damn famous, you know that?"

Mac looked up. He was sitting on the edge of an ambulance, nervously clenching his fists as a paramedic checked his blood pressure. His face was covered in sweat, heart pounding practically out of his chest. Shock had been replaced with fear, not something he was accustomed to. He hoped his stalker was happy; they had scared him, job well done. Julie's face was lit up in the darkness by the flashing red and blue lights, face etched with concern though she seemed to be trying to lighten his mood. He was grateful for her efforts, but it still wasn't enough to calm him down--completely. He allowed himself to breathe a little easier, looking away and focusing on what had been his truck. "Most people want to be famous. I don't think like this, though."

She made a small 'hmm' sound as she leaned up against the door of the ambulance, other arm going to rest on her waist. "You've got a point. Are you okay?" She had to have realized it was a dumb question from her grimace and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice.

"Define okay." His voice came out harsh, even to him but he couldn't even think to apologize and she didn't seem fazed. He'd gone from 3 AM phone calls and bloody t-shirts, to exploding cars. What was the next step? He was almost scared to find out.

"Well, you're alive." She offered, voice slightly dry even though she was trying to soothe him. She was severely hoping that her attitude would get him to send a smirk her way, but it had been awhile since she'd seen someone this shaken up. She didn't like to deal with those left behind-- she suddenly felt as if she were watching someone who had lost a loved one. Except he'd almost lost his own life.

"Yeah. What are you doing here, anyway?" His gaze wandered back to her lazily, eyes taking their time scanning the area. He struggled to stay calm and keep his voice calm, but it was taking every ounce of willpower. He honestly didn't think she'd mind sarcasm and snappy comments , especially considering his situation, but he was ever a gentleman.

"Flack and I were heading out when a blue told us what happened. And when I heard it was you, I just had to see if you still had your eyebrows."

He ignored the joke, though a faint smile appeared on his face before quickly disappearing. "And where's Flack?"

"My my, aren't we just full of questions tonight, Mr. Hardy. But I understand, just trying to lighten the mood." She was feeling a bit edgy at his reactions to her quips and she felt she had to explain herself before he got mad at her. "But to answer your question.. He's over there talking to Messer." She glanced at the said people, then looked back at him. Her eyes searched his face for a few moments, trying to gather all his visible emotions and possibly the ones that weren't visible. She reached up to brush a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, folding her arms as she slightly moved out of the paramedic's way, who was now going to the front of the ambulance. Mac rubbed his arm tenderly where the cuff had been, and looked up at her, meeting her gaze and showing no signs of being the first one to look away. Then again, neither did she.

"Any idea who did this?"

"A few." He replied somewhat blandly, eyes still on her even though she was fidgeting slightly. He suddenly remembered that she had wanted to ask him about something Flack had told her and he quickly ran over the coffee shop conversation in his head as he put his suit jacket on. It was getting cold in the night air and he already had the chills from the current situation. "Julie.. What were you going to ask me this morning?"

She looked startled, a reaction that Mac noted. "Well.. It was kind of personal, and it can wait.."

"It was about my stalker, wasn't it."

She nodded rather dumbly, squirming even more under his gaze. "But I was just curious. I had a friend who had a stalker before and I was just wondering how yours was going about it and.. " She stopped suddenly, realizing she was rambling. But surprisingly enough, it made him chuckle. She'd finally succeeded in cheering him up, but intentionally so. People were funny that way. She raised an eyebrow as he chuckled, suddenly feeling even more stupid. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean anything and--"

"Relax, Holmes." He held up a hand, failing to keep a laugh in. "I don't think you're nosy or stupid, thanks for trying to cheer me up. I kind of needed it. I still need it."

She smiled at him. "Well thanks. I can seem overbearing sometimes. But.. Um, have you talked to Danny or anything?"

Mac shook his head with a sigh, standing up and letting his hands fall into his pockets. Nervous habit. "No, I only talked to Sheldon. They're going to process the scene and stuff, see if they can't find anything." He felt stupid for suspecting Julie in the first place, but he was probably insane and it didn't matter, because she knew nothing about his suspicions. And if she did, she wasn't letting on. He sighed, looking around. "I.. I think I'm going to head home.."

"Need a ride?" He found his eyes once again upon her. He shouldn't be so damn suspicious, she was only trying to be nice and he did need the ride. As he stared at her, he found his gaze wandering a bit. She wasn't bad to look at, far from it. In fact she was very.. Very attractive. She blinked at him innocently, not even noticing his gaze and just waiting for a reply. He felt embarrassed once he realized what he was doing and snapped his eyes back up to her face.

"Uh.. If you don't mind. I wouldn't want to impose.."

"If you were imposing, I wouldn't have offered." She winked. "You've got a lot to learn about me, Taylor. Now right this way to the Sherlock-Mobile.."

**_CSI NY_**

"Where the hell is he going.." The low voice was a hiss. The sound of rustling could be heard, then the dialing of a cell phone, the numbers on the phone just barely casting light into the completely dark room.

"Hello?"

"Follow him. Now. He just left with that girl. Find out what's going on and get back to me."

**_CSI NY_**

When Julie dropped him off at his apartment building, she was quiet. She hadn't said anything the entire drive and she would only keep her eyes on the road. It unnerved Mac slightly, considering the mouth she'd had on her earlier. She smiled at him and bade him a safe and good night. As he was climbing out of her Impala, she stopped him.

"Mac?"

"Yeah?" He looked back, bending slightly to see her face fully. She looked tired and concerned at the same time, something that touched him.

"Be careful. I mean it.. And if anything happens.. You can call me, okay?"

He nodded with a small smile. "Okay."

Later that night, he found himself once again sleepless. He lay in bed, just thinking and trying to absorb the events. Especially the part where his truck had blown up, with him pretty damn close to it. Someone was either trying to scare him shitless, or was trying to kill him. At this point, it could be either. He wished that Claire was still alive. He felt tears creep into his eyes as he thought about his wife, seeing her smiling face in his head. She would have been able to comfort him. Not that that was the only reason he missed her. It was just that tough times made him miss her more, she was always able to make sense of everything and had a sunny disposition no matter what. Julie reminded him faintly of Claire. It was almost a scary thought, but she did. Especially when she'd been trying to cheer him up at the scene. Her smile could light up the entire city and she had a way of growing on you, even if you were in the sourest of moods. He smiled to himself. Leave it to him to think about this sort of thing in a crisis. He could almost hear Claire laughing at him, which she was. Looking down at him and thinking what a goof she'd married. He'd accepted her death. He'd accepted that she wasn't coming back and that if he ever found 'the one' or actually 'the second one', he shouldn't throw it away. He had moved on. It just seemed that every time he got into a relationship, it always turned into a big mess. Maybe it was him, maybe he was the one screwing things up. Maybe he was still hanging on to Claire. Or maybe.. Maybe he hadn't found the right one.

Whatever the case was, he was sick of worrying about. What was going to happen was going to happen not matter what he did, and he could only take it as it came. He rolled over, staring intensely at the clock. The clock almost seemed as if it was taunting him and it sent an eerie chill down his spine. The dark blue curtains were closed over his bedroom windows. The door that led to the bathroom in the corner was open, the smell of the vanilla air freshener still detectable. His clothes were neatly folded over a chair in the opposite corner, next to his closet and dresser. After Claire had died, he'd removed the mirror and now the spot on the wall where it had once been was covered with a few newspaper clippings and a large painting. He didn't buy into Feng Shui, but how he had things arranged in his room was slightly calming. He nestled an arm underneath his head, allowing his eyes to close. The last thing he thought before he went to sleep, was that Julie Holmes was a good person.

**_CSI NY_**

She'd been laying on her couch, eating popcorn and drinking a soda while she half-watched Resident Evil. She'd come home from dropping Mac off and immediately changed into Scooby-Doo Pajamas and plopped down on the couch. The snack had come later, and the only thing interesting on, was what she was watching. Something about Resident Evil was just awesome. Whether it was the fact that the movies finally showed a woman kicking Zombie Ass, or the Zombie action in general, she didn't know. One thing to know about Julie Holmes was that she was not your average girl. She loved shopping, dressing up occasionally and dolling herself up. She also liked Goth trends, heavy metal, and gory action movies. She loved dangerous stuff, but did like some chick flicks. She loved gossiping about guys and would occasionally rate guys with her little sister who was in college. She had an eclectic personality. There was something bothering her at the moment though. Mac Taylor. For some reason, he was being stalked and violently so. She would bet every cent she had that they wouldn't find anything on the car bombing and it would turn out to be this.. Stalker. Her eyes were staring at the movie, the fight scene taking place, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

Why she was taking such an interest in Taylor, she had no idea. Partly it was because of his personality. He seemed like a great guy who was struggling with something no one should ever have to struggle with. He seemed like a caring, yet no nonsense kind of person and to her that was attractive. She felt herself scoff. If she was developing a crush on this guy, she'd have to kill herself before her sister did; and her sister would find out somehow. Things always seemed to happen like that, and not in Julie's favor. She was thrown out of her thoughts by the sound of her cell phone. It was a few feet away from her couch, on the kitchen counter beside her badge and the newspaper she'd never gotten around to reading. Putting the bag of popcorn on the coffee table beside her drink, she got up and went to the counter. She looked at this display and the number she saw made her heart skip a beat and for more reasons than one. It was the number Mac had given her as his own. She frowned but picked up the phone, opening it and pressing it to her ear.

"Holmes."

There was such a long pause that she thought no one was there. "Julie?" The hoarse whisper scared her a bit and she leaned up against the counter, fingers clutching the edge so tightly her knuckles cracked.

"Mac? Is that you? What's wrong, is something wrong?"

Another pause, slightly shorter than the last. "Someone's.. someone's in my apartment. I need you to get some blues down here, no sirens, no lights."

Why hadn't he just called it in himself? The man clearly did not have the logic he was supposed to have. Or the brains. "Yeah, yeah, sure." She herself paused. "You want me to come?"

"That's fine. Just bring a gun." There was the unmistakable sound of breaking glass and she jumped, forcing herself to stay calm. "I got to go. Listen, get here as fast as you can and bring backup. Okay? I don't know who I'm dealing with, but I have a feeling I know what I'm dealing with. Whoever it was had to sneak past my building's--" The word 'security was cut off and her phone's display suddenly lit up, meaning the call had been ended. It didn't take her but a second to snap into action. She didn't even bother to change or turn off her TV, she just grabbed her keys and on the way out the door, called dispatch. Two units were on their way, but she knew she'd get there before them. She suddenly thought about the ended call. Was he okay? What if he was dead?

She swallowed the lump in her throat and drove as fast as she dared without losing control or hitting someone. She kept her light off, siren off and once she reached the apartment building where she'd been only hours earlier, she knew something was wrong. She realized she didn't know where his apartment was. Wait.. He'd mentioned something about being on the 15th floor.. That really narrowed it down. Oh well.. She'd find it. Making herself slip into Cop mode, she didn't wait for the elevator once inside. She took the stairs two at a time, but barely out of breath when she reached the 15th floor. She was in a hall that seemed strangely familiar, and she decided to go left. It was a good call. A few doors down, she saw an open door, but no lights coming from the door. Which in her book, was a bad sign and a sign that she'd found Mac's apartment. The sound of breaking glass confirmed her thoughts. Someone was sure trashing his apartment, first on the phone and who knew how long they'd been breaking stuff? Stop, she told herself. She was getting distracted. Gun out and raised, she hesitantly entered the apartment, waving the gun around as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. As she walked straight, she could feel a rush of cold air that sent a chill down her spine. She stopped, hearing a slight crack behind her. What little light that was coming from the hall was blocked for a half of a second, and she raised her gun at it, screaming "Police!" Just as the light returned to normal. No one responded and she stood there until a light flipped on behind her.

Wincing, she turned around and blinked. "Mac?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **I apologize for the ridiculously long wait you've had to endure for this slightly sucky and short chapter. Life has thrown more than a few illnesses at me as of late and I haven't brainstormed in awhile. I appreciate all the reviews you've given me so far and I ask you to kindly review this chapter as well. Please bear with me, future chapters will be longer and actually add more to the plot than this one does. I expect to update very soon so keep an eye out. The Writer's Strike is over people.. I swear that isn't why I wasn't writing. -wink- Happy reading.

"Mac?!"

"I'm fine.." There was a grimace following his words as he walked into the now light living room of his apartment, glimpsing a pajama clad Julie standing there. Her gun thankfully was not pointed at him, but as he saw the mess in his living room, the groan he'd been about to give deepened. Everything glass in the room was broken, things knocked over, including his bookshelves. The place was a mess. He'd woken up a few hours after falling asleep to the sound of someone moving around in his apartment. He had no idea why he'd called Julie, he'd just dialed the first number that had come to mind. Why he'd hung up on her was because the door to his bedroom had swung open. He'd taken a shot, but had only managed to hit one of the beautiful paintings in his room. After that, the guy had gone back into the living room and played cat and mouse until Julie had showed up. He finally fully looked at her, a smirk appearing on his lips. She was wearing a sleeveless purple top that had Scooby-Doo and the words "Scooby-Dooby-Doo" streaked across the middle. Her shorts were the same color, but they only had the famous cartoon character's dog tag on them. "Cold?"

"Yeah, actually I--" She stopped, looking at him with a glare. "Shut up, I didn't have time to change."

"I'm that important?"

"Well, no. But I figured if someone hacked off your head I'd just have to see and smell it, so why put myself out." She mirrored his smirk, going to strap her gun to her belt but stopped, realizing she didn't have it. When Mac saw her feet, he couldn't help but give a loud burst of laughter. She was wearing fluffy dog slippers, complete with a face, nose and even a tail in the back. She continued to glare at him, arms crossing in defiance.

"You know what?! You just came close to death, you shouldn't be laughing at me!"

"I'm sorry, it's just not everyday you see a cop carrying a gun wearing that ensemble." He laughed again. For a moment, there was just silence until Julie spoke again.

"Why'd you call me?"

Oh, she had to bring that up. Truth be told, he wasn't exactly sure. In a way, he still suspected her and he knew he always would until his stalker was caught. Had he wanted to see if it was her in his apartment? He didn't know. There was going to be some odd looks when he explained that. Of course he could always say they'd been on the phone, but that wasn't like him. Thankfully, he was saved by Flack sticking his head in the door, two other officers behind him.

"Mac, you alright? Julie?" Flack frowned, looking from the room to the two standing there. That was when Mac realized just how bad this looked. He was shirtless, in a pair of sleep pants and with Julie in her pajamas.. She realized it too, judging by her blush. Flack seemed puzzled. "Was there a misunderstanding?"

"No." Flack's face was met with one of Julie's slippers, and she was giving him a glare that could kill. Flack blinked at her, turning to Mac who felt the embarrassment as well.

"No, someone really was in my apartment. Julie--"

"Called it in. Why didn't you call dispatch?"

Damn it, there was that question again. He cleared his throat, about to come up with some lame excuse when Julie interrupted him. "Flack, you see anyone coming out of the building on the way up?"

Flack looked at her, a little suspicious. He stared at her for a few minutes, trying to decide whether or not she was trying to change the subject, or really wanted to know. She could tell he was still a little bit iffy, but nevertheless he shook his head. "Nope, not a soul. Want me to send a few of my guys around to check?"

"You.. Might want to go ahead and do that, Don." Mac felt as if he'd been running for hours and realized he'd been holding his breath. Don gave a curt nod and disappeared.

"You owe me," Julie grumbled, finding her fallen slipper and hopping out the door.

_**CSI NY**_

"Hey Sherlock, heard you had a busy night."

The snickering voice of Danny Messer made her cringe. It seemed that either Flack or a blue had blabbed about the incident the night before. She was leaning up against the door frame of a random office, waiting for Flack to join her. She reminded herself to smack the hell out of him later, even if he wasn't the one who blabbed. "Well as a cop its my duty to protect and serve isn't?"

Danny shook his head, shoving his hands into his pockets as he came to stand beside her. "Holmes, you are something else. You don't know Mac like I do, but this is an oddity even for him."

She turned to slowly glare at him. "Is anyone realizing that they're over.. Analyzing this? Reading too much into it? Because come on, I'd just given the man my phone number and people crack under that kind of stress.." She stopped rambling as she saw Danny start to laugh. "What?" She demanded.

"You have him your phone number?"

"In case he needed help!" Her voice had reached a hilariously high level. Damn her for having such a high stress level. "God, Danny, I thought the man was under so much stress he needs all the allies he can get! Don't even start it!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, its just so damn funny! I mean.. yeah! Whoever thought the two of you?"

"There is not the two of us! I mean, we're not.. DANNY!" She took a swing at him, but fell short when she saw Mac raise an eyebrow at the two from his office.

"Am I interrupting?" He was clearly having fun at her expense, she could tell by the look he had on his face. She suddenly wished she had some Calgon.

"No." She responded at the same time Danny smirked a "Yes."

Mac stared at them, looking from one to the other and Julie had a hard time imagining what he was thinking. That scared her. With a guy like Mac, she had a feeling you didn't fiddle around.

"Alright then. Danny, we've got a body out on Broadway, Stella will meet you there. And as for you," His eyes were now upon a squirming Julie. "I have a few questions for you."

She felt like a kid again. All those times she'd gotten in trouble at school, the one look she feared was the one the Principal would give her after she'd done something extremely naughty, like glue in the teacher's seat. Of course, she'd only done that once. Danny gave a small grin, running his tongue over his teeth and winking at her. In his opinion, she was being fed to hungry piranha's and needed to find a job where she only needed one arm. She glared at him, watching him go before turning back to Mac and plastering the most innocent smile she could conjure on her face. "Yes, Detective?" Her voice was high and polite and it was a dead giveaway she was either being sarcastic, or she thought she was in trouble. But thankfully, Taylor didn't know that and she didn't plan on him ever knowing it either.

"Drop the formalities, its just me." He beckoned her into the office, motioning for her to have a seat. "And I'm not mad, by the way. You should see the spats Danny and Flack get into."

She gave a nervous chuckle, craning her head to get a good view of the office, trying to seem casual although she felt like she was in the Principal's office all over again. "So.. Questions?"

"Right." But as soon as he opened his mouth to ask question number one, he lost his thoughts and was faced with a rather surprised looking Julie. She was resisting the urge to tap her fingers on the nearest hard surface, which happened to be the other detective's desk. "Uhhh.."

Before he could finish the rest of his sentence, however, Julie's cell phone began to ring. She blinked for a few seconds until she realized it was her, then reached into her pocket. The number she read on the display caused a relieved smile to cross her face. "Dispatch." She looked up, letting her smile fall as she realized it wasn't something to be too happy about. "I gotta take this."

He nodded in agreement. "We'll talk later."

"I'm sure we will. Just as long as you're not in any kind of trouble." She winked, already on her way out the door.

Too bad she'd jinxed it.


	5. Chapter 5

"Did you know that 'Messer' means something in German?"

There was a quick pause. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well are you gonna tell me, stupid, or do I have to go look it up on the Internet myself?"

"Oh right." Flack leaned over the table to stick his face into Julie's, raising his eyebrows and plastering a drunken silly smile on his face. "It means something like Knife." He stressed the last word and sucked in his lower lip as he did so. Julie raised an eyebrow, her face twisting into an odd expression as if she thought he were crazy.

"You're drunk." She stated, pushing him back and waving her hand with a grimace. Even if you couldn't tell from his attitude, you could tell by his breath. Beside Julie, Danny was bent over the table in laughter, one hand on his half empty mug, the other occasionally slapping the table. When he finally came up for air, there were laughter tears in his eyes. The three of them were sitting in a bar, Tony's or something like that, having one of the most abnormal conversations Julie had ever had in her entire life. Why she'd let them convince her to come, was beyond even her mind. She figured it had something to do with Flack saying he had a theory on who Mac's stalker was, and she was curious. She'd yet to bring up the subject, but it was pointless at this point anyway.

Flack burst into insane laughter himself, falling back into his seat and taking the final swig from his mug. "Lighten up, Jules. Don't be such a stick in the pond."

She visibly cringed at the 'Jules' part, rolling her eyes at the mixed up expression. She had no idea where the word pond had come to him from. And she didn't think she really wanted to know either. "Don, don't ever call me that. And it's a stick in the mud, which I'm not. I just find it hard to have a good time when I'm seeing a dozen rubber ducks swim around my head."

Danny's face scrunched into what she assumed was a frown. "When you're drunk, you see rubber ducks?"

She merely shrugged in response, reaching out to fiddle with the handle of her own mug, which she hadn't touched since Danny and Don had ordered their first ones. Nor did she plan on touching it. As tempting as it was, she wanted to stay clear for the night. "So hopefully neither of you has a shift bright and early.." She said dryly, glancing at her watch. It was already past midnight.

"Nope. Just spending time with Stella.." Don kept stressing the last words to come out of his mouth and it was beginning to annoy her. What caught her attention however, was the name itself. She let her eyebrows rise in surprise as she glanced at Danny, who seemed to be a little less coherent.

"Stella?" Her voice was dripping with her surprise. She saw nothing wrong with it, but just the fact that it was Don and Stella was.. Interesting. She'd never pegged them for the other's type.

"Shhhhhh." Don put a finger to his lips. "We're tryin' to keep it a secret." He offered no explanation, but he probably wouldn't have been able to choke it out anyway. It occurred to her that this could just be random, drunken rambling but somehow she didn't think so. She didn't press the matter for privacy's sake and heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Don't worry, its safe with me.." She muttered, letting her gaze wander out the window. For a minute, there was an unsettling silence at the table and it was broken by the sound of Danny laughing.

"What's so funny, Messer?" She growled, reaching over and socking him none too gently in the arm. Unfortunately, it only caused him to laugh harder as he looked up at her, his eyes almost closed he was laughing so hard.

"You and Mac.." He gasped and as soon as the words had left his mouth, she'd socked him again. This time he muttered a small 'Ow' and rubbed his shoulder, but kept laughing.

Don had been about to charge right into the laughter but stopped and he gave Julie a sort of wide eyed look. "What about you and Mac?"

His sudden sense of sobriety and the look he gave her scared her slightly. She blinked at him, trying to think of how to answer even though she already knew how. Her words came out slow and cautious. "Oh.. He's just teasing me about Mac. You know, last night and everything.." She trailed off, tilting her head to stare back at him. For what seemed like and endless couple of seconds, they stared at each other and the stare she was receiving, made her the slightest bit uncomfortable.

"Oh." He sounded almost as if he were angry. "Oh."

Danny even noticed the sudden change of mood and his now sullen face looked from Julie to Flack, but he said nothing.

"I.. I got to go." Julie stood abruptly, gathering her jacket and digging into her pocket for her half of the bill. "I'll see you guys later."

"Later Jules." Danny said, thought it seemed half-hearted. She didn't even notice the use of the putrid nickname, instead, she kept her eyes on Flack as she struggled into her jacket. She flashed both of them a small but uncertain smile, then headed for the door. As soon as she opened the door to leave, she bumped into someone. As she glanced up to apologize, she blinked, seeing that the person was Stella. Stella smiled warmly at her and greeted her before floating past and heading towards Danny and Don's table, leaving Julie to just sit there and stare at the door. She suddenly felt as if she'd seen a ghost.

"You're so paranoid.." She muttered to herself, finally pushing out of the door and leaving.

_**CSI NY**_

It was late the next day when Mac finally saw sunlight. He'd entered court so early in the morning and it had been overcast and raining at the time. When he was finally free, his watch read 5:17 and strong rays of sunlight were peeking through breaks in the dark clouds. It was quite refreshing, he decided. He took the steps two at a time leaving the Courthouse, smiling as he passed a group of old ladies who gave him a dirty look. He shrugged it off, it wasn't worth worrying about.

He didn't breathe normally until he was in his car and going at a nice speed. Just as long as his car didn't suddenly explode, he was going to be fine. Unless of course.. No. He couldn't do that, he couldn't think about it. If he thought about it, something was bound to happen. Because that was his luck. He drove along in a comfortable silence for awhile, finally deciding to flip on the radio and see what was on. The sound coming from his car's speakers was relaxing, the melody calming his tense nerves. He had caught the song at its beginning thankfully, and the lyrics began to reach his ears. He finally allowed himself to breathe normally, knuckles relaxing on the steering wheel as he leaned his head back ever so slightly.

And then it all happened in the blink of an eye. As he was turning unto the street that would eventually take him home, a car swerved out of nowhere and came straight for the driver's side of the car. He glimpsed it from the corner of his eye and yanked hard on the steering wheel to avoid a collision, almost running unto a sidewalk full of people who all screamed when they saw his car. He managed to keep the vehicle on the road and straightened it a bit, thinking it was just a freak driver when he felt the side of his car rock violently. A glance told him that the other car had ran into him and was trying to run him off the road. He fought against the weight of the other car, twisting the steering wheel and guiding the car, slamming into the opposite. The driver reacted quickly and slammed on their brakes before pulling in behind Mac and ramming the backend of his car. Muttering a curse under his breath, he glanced in the rearview mirror and pressed on the gas petal, swerving around cars in his way. The car behind him continued to follow relentlessly, and it scared him. It didn't happen how it did in the movies or the TV shows, it was as if the car was suddenly upon him and sending his car flying off the road and into a streetlight. He heard the squealing of departing tires as his head collided with the steering wheel and the air bag as it deployed. The last thing he remembered was a silent prayer.

_**CSI NY**_

When he came to, he saw a bright light on his face. Though his eyelids were closed, the light was still intense and he cringed against it, and the tiny movement caused a wave of pain to rush over him. With a slight groan, he tried to move, but felt his stiff limbs and decided against it. At least for the moment.

"He's coming to. He should be fine.. We'll take him in just in case though.."

"Can I try talking to him first?" The voices he heard seemed slow and eerily distanced. He decided that it was just whatever injuries he'd sustained and that he wasn't hearing ghosts. He had no idea why he'd even thought he was hearing ghosts in the first place but he supposed that came with the territory. Finally opening his eyes, he realized the light was gone. The only lights he was seeing now, were blue and red. From his lying down position, he glimpsed a police car and the ones coming from behind him were probably an ambulance. The events of the past however long it was filled his brain and he suppressed a groan. This wasn't happening. Why was this happening? What could he have possibly done to deserve this kind of torture?

"Mac? Mac, can you hear me?"

Julie. The name sent a slight snarl to his lips and a sudden surge of anger filled his veins at an alarming rate. She was probably the cause of all this, the reason why he was scared to leave his home in the morning and to go home at night. She was trying to kill him for some insanely stupid reason and that was why she was hanging around with him, she wanted to watch him as she slowly tortured him and sent him into a spiral of self destruction that was bound to happen sooner or later. He stared up at her, not stopping to take in her appearance. She was standing beside the gurney he was lying on, soaking wet from the rain that had apparently fallen sometime in the past half hour or so, depending on how long he'd been out. Sincere concern was so deeply visible on her face that one could have mistaken them for lovers.

"Mac?" She repeated. Before she could say anything else, he was pushing himself up on the gurney and standing shakily to his feet. "Mac, don't. Your head, you'll--"

"Shut up." He felt uncharacteristically angry and she was visibly taken aback by it. It obviously didn't bother her too bad because she opened her mouth to once again protest his movement.

"Mac, come on. I know you're upset but--"

"Upset!?" his voice didn't feel like his own, but it was. "Upset doesn't even begin to cover it. How would you feel if you had all this crap happen to you? I'm willing to bet just a tad more than upset. Save your sympathy, I don't give a damn." He turned around, looking for his jacket and finally spotted it less than a foot from him. The gurney had been positioned practically in the ambulance and what appeared to be his jacket and his suit jacket were draped over the edge of the bumper.

She watched him, not wanting to get her feelings hurt, but having a hard time keeping her temper in check. "Mac, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. But you might have hurt your head worse than you think. I'm guessing you hit the wheel pretty hard."

He'd whirled to her in an instant. "How the hell do you know what happened?"

She blinked at him, clearly having a hard time adjusting to this new attitude. "They found you unconscious in your car. There's blood on the steering wheel, your head was bleeding it isn't that hard to figure out!" She took a deep breath and ran a hand as best she could through her hair. "Mac, please, sit down."

"You can't tell me what to do." He paused as he was slipping into his jacket, a suspicious frown creeping its way unto his features. "You know what I find funny?"

His pause prompted her to respond. "No. What?" There was a cautious edge in her voice.

"You're always there. Always." He said, voice dripping with anger. "You were there after the car explosion. You just happened to give me your number the same night someone breaks into my apartment. And lo and behold, here you are now."

"Hey." She was getting defensive now. "You didn't have to call me. Hell, I don't know why you called me. You should have called dispatch like a good cop." She practically spat.

"Oh so torturing you isn't enough, you have to tell me I'm bad at my job too!?" He shouted, swinging towards her. "You are a real piece of work, Holmes."

"I would look in a mirror." She snapped, face hurtfully angered. "And I'm sorry, I didn't know you thought I was your stalker. My mistake for thinking a human being could be sincerely concerned about another human being without having questionable intentions." She sounded hurt now. "Honestly, Taylor, if you think I'm your stalker.. I'm not. I'm just not, okay? And I have no idea why you would even think that, I barely know you."

"That's the point." He said lowly, calming down a bit. "It seems odd that you showed up when you did."

"Showed up? I've been around here, but it's a big place. Sorry we never met before." she sighed heavily, blowing out her breath and placing a hand on either hip. "Okay, can we just be somewhat civil? Seriously, we're adults and neither one of us is acting like one. And no cracks about the pajamas."

That brought a small smile to his face, but it quickly faded. He turned to stare at her, face weary as their eyes met. "And how do I know you're not lying to me and are planning on slitting my throat in my sleep?"

"Okay, for one thing, you don't know that I'm not lying. And I'm not asking you to trust me right away, but I would like you to eventually trust me and know that I'm not your stalker. Secondly, if I really wanted you dead, I wouldn't go to all the trouble of this flashy shit, I would have just shot you in the head." She growled. Something about how she looked in that moment entertained him and he let his guard down. With a frustrated sigh, he broke their gaze and looked towards the once again overcast sky.

"Julie, look. I'm sorry, I really am and I didn't mean to explode on you. It isn't like me. But I'm just under so much stress. And I'm sad to admit, but I really did suspect you. But I think if you were really my stalker, or would be killer should I say, you wouldn't be going to all this trouble of befriending me. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to take that risk and possibly open a friendship." he reached his hand out to her. "How's that sound to you?"

With a slightly wry smile, she reached out and shook his hand firmly but briefly. "Sounds good. But let's get a few things straight. No pajama jokes, no keeping your suspicions to yourself. I want to help you, I really do. But I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. So its my turn to propose something. What do you say to us getting our asses out there and finding your sorry ass stalker?"

It was his turn to smile. "I say what are we waiting around here for?"

"Umm.. Not to burst your bubble or bruise your ego or ruin the moment or anything, but you're going to the hospital to get that thick head of yours checked out.."

**Author's Note: **Though this chapter was written in an incredible (for me) amount of time, a lot of hard work and thought went into this chapter, especially the first half. So please give me some more nice reviews and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I'm very proud of it for once! Next update should be within a week or so.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **People, I had too much fun with this. I decided it was time for Mac to stop and have a little fun in his dark and dreary time, but I have many diabolical plans for the next chapter, including a scary encounter for Mac. Muah. And if you review, I'll give you a cookie. So review. Please. :D

It was a clear night. Cold, but clear and somewhat refreshing. A calm moment like this was what he looked forward to every day, whether he'd been stuck inside or not. There was always one moment, no matter where you were, that time seemed to just stop and you felt relaxed, every day no matter how calm you were. It had been two days since the car accident. After he'd gone to the hospital to have his head checked out, he and Julie had retreated to a Starbucks just a few blocks from the hospital to talk. He told her everything that had happened over the past few months and he'd given her every theory he'd thought of. He'd felt stupid doing it, but there was nothing stupid about and that was exactly what she'd told him. Something about Julie seemed to calm him. When she was serious about something, it was visible and if she cared, it was visible as well. And usually, when she said something, she meant it.

He felt stupid right now in fact, for thinking and dwelling so much on Julie. She was merely someone who had found her way into his life and she probably didn't think about him as much as he thought about her. Did he want her to think about him? He groaned inwardly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he stood outside the precinct. A large group of cops had just exited the building, congratulating each other and a successful bust or some such, slapping each other on the back and full of laughter. He barely noticed them, however, as they started walking across the street, he noticed a lone figure on the opposite side of the street, huddled into a coat and looking rather.. Hurt. He hadn't talked to Julie since Starbucks. He hadn't called her and she hadn't called him, nor had they run into each other in the lab. Flack and Danny had mentioned going out to Tony's with her and he briefly wondered if something might have happened. But what?

"Julie?" He called out as she came closer. Her head was bent low and she didn't respond to the sound of his voice. He met her halfway to the front doors of the precinct, stopping her by putting out his arm. "Julie, are you okay?"

When she looked up at him, he blinked in surprise. There was a large, white bandage on her left cheek, which covered most of her face on that side minus her eye, temple and the low side of her face. She glared at his silence and started walking again. "I'm fine." She muttered.

He had to jog a bit to catch up with her quick steps. "Are you sure? What happened?" He asked with a slight frown, not even noticing that she was glaring at him over her shoulder.

"Positive. And even though I really don't want to talk about it, a suspect was resisting arrest, pulled out a knife and tried to stab me. Thankfully, he didn't succeed completely." she stopped, her glare turning into a concerned gaze. "Are you okay? Did something else happen?"

He felt bad now. She'd been stabbed and she was asking him if he was alright. He suddenly felt like a big baby. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine I just.. Concerned.. So you got it looked at?" he gestured to her face, wondering when exactly it had happened.

She touched it somewhat self-consciously, then flicked her gaze from him to the ground. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and she was dressed casually, at least compared to what he'd seen her in before. "Of course, you think I'm stupid? Anyway, that was yesterday. They really didn't want me coming in, but they don't want to hear me gripe either." Her small smile was catchy and he gave a low laugh.

"I'm sure." He paused for a few minutes, trying to gather his thoughts. He was still slightly awkward around her. It made him feel self-conscious and he didn't like it, but he supposed he would get used to her after awhile. Considering he lived that long..

"So I guess you've heard about Don and Stella."

His head jerked upright in an instant. He stared at Julie for a second, narrowing his eyes not in a glare or suspicion but confusion. "Don and Stella..?"

A light blush crept unto her face and she glanced away. "Whoops. I thought you knew."

"Knew about what, exactly?" He figured curiosity killed the cat, not the detective.

"Well.. Umm.." She swallowed, her blush deepening. "Flack kinda mentioned that he and Stella were.. You know, dating."

Dating? He felt his eyes go round. This was certainly news to him. And surprising news at that. He'd never seen Flack and Stella coming, not in a million years. Not like he expected Stella to blab to him about her love life, but he was still kind of interested as to why she hadn't told him. Or at least why no one else had told him. "No. uh, no. no one.. Told me.." The idea of it didn't bother him, not in the least. It just.. Surprised him. "Huh."

She gave him an odd look then squirmed uncomfortably, as if she had someplace to go. Or was she upset? He couldn't tell. He found it extremely hard to read her emotions even on a normal basis. Was she offended? He had no idea why she would be, but stranger things had been known to happen. "Yeah. Um.. Anyway.."

"Oh. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you two." Stella's voice was trying to be cheery, but something didn't seem right. When he turned around, her smile wasn't the same either and it sort of gave him the chills. What was it, creep someone you worked with out night? Maybe it was just him going crazy. It took him a minute to realize what she was implying with her words; it also took him a glance at Julie. Her cheeks, or rather cheek, was bright red and she ducked her head, somewhat embarrassed.

"No, uh, no you didn't." Mac responded, words somewhat stumbling clumsily out of his mouth. Stella's smile didn't falter but he detected a hint of annoyance or perhaps anger in it. Maybe she was having a bad night and was trying to seem fine. He didn't know and he wasn't going to press her about it. He wasn't going to mention Don, either.

"Oh." She didn't sound convinced. Her head tilted to stare at Julie for a few moments, then tilted back to Mac. The motion seemed oddly robotic. "Well. Nice night. Feel better, Julie." And without even a goodbye to Mac, she was walking across the street. He stared after her for a minute, somewhat confused, before he turned back to Julie.

"Was it just me or was something strange about her?"

Julie didn't meet his eyes. "Maybe she heard us talking."

He doubted it, but he didn't say so. After all, it was one of the more reasonable explanations. They were silent for a few minutes until an unexpected thought popped into Mac's head and making himself ask before he stopped to think about it, he turned to Julie.

"How would you like to go out for coffee?"

_**CSI NY**_

"Hey, I'm here for some test results on the Rosalettie case?" Julie eased her hands onto the glass countertop, rapping her fingers as she did so. She was in a bit of a hurry and needed the results ASAP. It was Adam Ross who was sitting on the other side, head bent in concentration as he stared at the computer screen. He looked up, first at her hands then up at her face and almost immediately a slight snickering sound came from him. Julie gave him a dark look but the snickering only grew louder and he turned around and met eyes with one of the techs.

The tech looked back at Adam, who was now pointing at Julie and mouthing something she couldn't tell, which caused the Tech to snicker as well. A glare spread across her face and she had the slightest urge to smack Adam into next Tuesday. "What?" She demanded rather hotly.

"Nothing." He said in a high pitched voice, which indicated he was lying. It only made her madder and she stuck her head forward, inches from his.

"I said, what?" She said in such a voice that made her sound like one of Satan's minions. Adam blinked at her, gave another snicker then finally proceeded to explain as he handed her the test results she'd come for.

"I never thought Mac would be so.. Loose."

An eyebrow arched. "Loose?" She echoed, not sure she wanted to know where this was going.

"Loose." He repeated with a giddy laugh. "Especially on the first date. You must be one heck of a gal, Julie."

The eyebrow fell. She was glaring a lot more nowadays. Last night, she had gone out for coffee with Mac, which had led to them going bowling, much to Mac's displeasure although he'd had fun once he got into it. And she admitted, it was sort of a date. But loose? What the hell did he.. Oh. Ohhhhh. She was curious as to how Adam had found out about this, it had been less than twenty four hours ago and the only person she'd told was the cab driver and unless he had a friend in the lab, she wasn't sure how the tech knew. She honestly didn't think Mac would have talked but then again she didn't know him that well…

"How did you find out about that?" She said, voice unnervingly calm. She didn't bother to clear up the fact that Mac hadn't been 'loose'.

"Are you kidding? Its all over the lab. I found out when I came to work this morning." He grinned at her, clearly having too much fun in her opinion.

She felt like kicking someone. All over the lab? God, someone was going to suffer and golly, it wasn't going to be her. She forced a rather evil smile at Adam before walking stiffly out of the lab. As she started walking, she noticed two detectives looking at her, then whispering to themselves. Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it.

She approached Mac's office and entered it without announcing herself, closing the door behind her and giving him the sweetest smile she could muster as he looked up from whatever he was writing. "Darling, I think I left my underwear at your apartment."

He frowned and she found it rather hilarious that he didn't mention the underwear part. "You haven't been to my apartment since--"

"That's the point!" She interrupted him, throwing her hands into the air and dropping rather heavily into one of the chairs opposite his. "Have you heard what everyone is saying?"

"No. What?" He pushed his paper away and leaned forward.

"That you're loose! Loose, Mac! They are implying that you and I had sex last night! Everyone is talking about it! Did you tell them we did?!"

He seemed slightly alarmed but he was taking it better than she was. "I.. hadn't heard. Then again I've only talked to Sid since I got here. And no. why would I? I wouldn't lie about that and even if we had, I wouldn't have told anyone in this lab until I was good and ready."

Her mind flickered for a minute to his words. Was he implying he wouldn't mind sleeping with her? No no, she had to get her mind out of the gutter. "Okay. Then how would anyone have found out?"

Before he could answer, Stella had floated through the door and was sailing towards Mac's desk with a bright and somewhat normal looking smile. "Hey Tiger. Got a lead on Masterson."

Tiger? Ah, barf bag time. Julie and Mac both stared at Stella for a second and their silence confused her. "What?" She asked, looking semi-innocent.

"Stella.. Have you heard what everyone's saying?" Mac asked slowly.

"About you and Julie? Yeah."

He didn't blink. "And you.. Didn't see it in your heart to set them straight?"

She shrugged, brushing some of curly locks over her shoulder. "I didn't know the truth so why would I?"

"Stella." Mac said, rather sternly. "Its not anyone's business what I do after I leave the office. Or Julie, for that matter."

Stella grinned, and wiggled her eyebrows. "Ah, so you two did take a roll in the hay? You bad boy."

"Stella!" Mac cried and Julie gave her a look like she had just asked for a vomit flavored lollipop.

"Why does everyone think that? Why can't two people go on a normal date without having sex? Seriously, this country has no morals anymore. And who calls it that now, anyway?"

Mac gave Julie a look but it quickly went back to Stella. "Stell.. Can you please just.. Not talk about this? And if anyone mentions it, tell them its not true."

"Alright, fine. If you want to be bashful, go right ahead." She turned to leave and Mac groaned, covering his eyes with his hand as he leaned back into his chair. "I'll get Danny to go with me on the lead."

When he finally did uncover his eyes, Julie was giving him a slightly odd and thoughtful look. "What?" he questioned, wishing his headache would go away.

"With your hurry to set the rumor straight, are you implying that I'm not desirable in that way?"

Oh for the love of God. "No, Julie, I didn't." He smiled tiredly. "I would love to have sex with you."

"You're not forward at all are you?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Julie!" He groaned, slamming his hands unto the desk. She started laughing, shaking her head and giving him an apologetic smile.

"Just teasing, Mac. Just teasing." She took a minute to catch her breath, then sighed. "I got to get these results to Angell. I'll see you later, okay? And no spreading rumors."

He gave her a dry look as if to say 'Ha-ha', standing as she did. "I'll try not to. And no telling me not to get into trouble because then I will. You're a jinx."

"Nah, I don't have Halle Berry's body." She winked. He stared at her, confused. "God, you've never seen James Bond?" She rolled her eyes. "Look, I get off around seven, after that, I want to see that bloody t-shirt you mentioned and see if I can't think of anything. Alright?"

He nodded. "See you then."

As she walked out of his office, if you listened close enough, you could hear her muttering under her breath.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Sorry this took so long guys, I've been dealing with a lot lately and I know this probably isn't what you were hoping for, but keep in mind, this is only the beginning. And don't jump to any conclusions. Not everything is as it seems. Alright, I'm done being all "oooOOoooOOoh" on you guys now. This chapter also fell victim to writer's block, partially why the 'tense' moments were a bit lacking. New chapter should be up at LEAST By the 14th.. That's when I get out for Spring Break. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless and don't forget to review!

".. In the end, you want only death."

"Excuse me?" Not only had the words come out of nowhere, but they were somewhat morbid at least in his opinion. He and Julie were sitting in a busy, lunchtime restaurant at a tiny table in front of the window. She was sitting across from him, face in hand, the other hand fiddling with the straw in her drink. She looked at him, somewhat surprised until she realized that she had talked aloud.

"Oh. I said--"

"I heard what you said. Why'd you say it?"

"Well, its from a book actually." She paused. "About a woman who was stalked for four years. The police never could find any leads and when they did, any traces of anything had been wiped squeaky clean. She moved to five different states, changed phone numbers, even changed her name. And he always found her." She looked up at him. "That was what she said in the book."

It was kind of depressing, actually. He knew she didn't mean to be, but the idea of that possibly happening to him.. He shuddered. He wouldn't let it go that far, he couldn't. He bit back a dry remark. He didn't want to make her feel bad when he knew she hadn't meant to make him feel bad. "Interesting." He said instead, taking a quick sip of his water. "So your thoughts on the t-shirt?" They had just come from examining it and she hadn't said a word about it. He was beginning to wonder if she'd forgotten about it.

"It really confuses me. The t-shirt's plain, medium sized, no markings, no tags no nothing. You would think that there would be some kind of message but since the blood didn't lead you anywhere.." She paused. "Maybe its mafia related. They do sorts of things like that, don't they?"

He couldn't resist a dry laugh. He hoped it wasn't the mafia. He hadn't done anything to piss them off.. That he knew of. "But if it was the mafia, wouldn't they have hit by now?"

"You would think, unless they're the smarty-pants ones that like to see people in pain. Ran into a few myself, before. Another thing I thought about was maybe.. Its someone you know." At his startled look, she struggled to rephrase her sentence. "Not someone like a friend. But someone that you know of and may see often, if you get my drift. A doorman, a delivery person, hell, maybe even a neighbor." She paused to take a drink. "So I took the liberty of trying to get something off of your phone records. No hits, except one tiny little slip. One of the calls was made from an address in Brooklyn."

He frowned. "Which call?"

"One about a month and a half back. I checked the address and it's a small, moving company. I thought we'd head there and check it out."

He felt stupid. But then again, at the first he'd never gotten anything from the phone records so it was understandable why he'd given up. "Sounds good."

A nervous look crossed her face. "Mac, I have to warn you. I don't think the slip was accidental. Anyone this coordinated, this.. Dedicated wouldn't be that stupid. But maybe if it was a setup, they expected you sooner."

Mac waved a hand, leaning his elbows unto the table. "I doubt anything's amiss there now, so no worries." He had to admit he did feel his stomach clench though. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." They both stood and left money on the table, Julie insisting upon paying for her own lunch. When they left the restaurant they were in Mac's car, his replacement for the.. Other one. The entire drive to Brooklyn, she insisted upon fiddling with every single gadget and though it annoyed him, he found it entertaining as well. When they finally did reach the address, Mac had her double check it. Why? They found themselves in front of a medium sized, two story run down building. The windows were boarded over and the sign was faded out. A fire escape was visible on the side of the building and that was about it, besides the eerie looking door.

They stood in front of the place for a few minutes, in total silence until Julie punched him playfully in the arm. "So are we being cliché and going into the building? Or are we going to be a couple of chickens and make like an egg?"

He let her choice of words slide with merely a shake of his head and a sigh. "Well, why not go with cliché? After all, curiosity killed the cat not the detective."

She stared at him, face sullen and perfectly straight. "I would just like to take this moment to tell you, you look like my old kitty, Bones."

He stared back at her, face making her giggle. "I'll get you for that, Sherlock. Now shall we go inside?"

"Kitty-cats first." She smirked, waving him towards the door. He chose to humor her and tried the doorknob, turning it slowly and holding his breath as the door slid open with an ominous, wailing creak.

"Cuh-reeepy." She sang-songed, pushing past him and pulling both a flashlight and a Glock from underneath her jacket.

"You brought a gun?" He whispered lightly to her, looking around.

"Duh." She hissed back. "I didn't know what we'd be doing. I even brought some cookies too."

He stopped. "Cookies?"

"Yeah. I was a girl scout you know. Wanted to be a boy scout, but I couldn't be so I moonlighted as one. So now I'm always prepared, including in the food department." There was such a serious tone to her voice, he had to wonder if she was joking or not. Sometimes it was hard to tell with her. If she was joking, he appreciated her effort in trying to keep him calm. When he was calm, he was more alert.

"Ah." He whispered back. The inside was totally and completely empty, save for two rickety looking chairs at the back of the room. The inside was very open, no walls or anything, just a counter to the left covered in dust. Julie had already rounded the corner to find a staircase and was already climbing it. In the beam of her flashlight, the only real thing visible was lots and lots of dust and cobwebs. He moved to follow her but a door next to the staircase caught his eye, and he hesitantly reached out and opened it. Darkness was on the other side, but his curiosity got the better of him and he took a step into the darkness. Unfortunately, the door was not very sturdy and closed behind him with an ominous creak. Since there was no light coming from the other parts of the building, he didn't feel it necessary to reopen and keep the door open.

While he was traipsing through the darkness, Julie had made her way upstairs only to find a whole lot of nothing. She found it odd that a call had been made from here only a short time ago and there was so much.. Dust. The dust itself was disconcerting, she didn't even want to imagine what had crawled and slithered through her. Country girl she wasn't. Although she apparently had a thing for dealing with overly large sewer rats. With a resigned sigh, she stopped and shook her head. "Well, Mac, if someone was here, they went to Texas and brought some dust back." She stopped. "I think we've been duped."

After a few seconds with no response, she turned around. "Mac?"

No Mac. She stood there for a moment then frowned. "Ohh Maaaaac.." She sang, looking around. Shit, he must've been downstairs. She took the stairs two at a time, not thinking of her safety, but when she reached the first floor, Mac wasn't in sight-- or anywhere else for that matter. She was about to stick her head out and see if he'd gone chicken and egged to the car, but the door was stuck.

"Great. I'm in a stinking horror movie." She muttered, turning around and leaning against the door. "Okay, the guy in the mask with a deadly weapon, please show yourself and attempt to murder me and tell me what you did with the man I came in here with so I can arrest you." She called, feeling rather stupid as she did so. All of this was too cliché, to set up.. She stopped. Was Mac staging all of this? Could he be behind it? Nah.. She decided. He didn't seem like he had the guts to. "MAC!" She finally screamed, and as soon as she did she heard him shout back.

"JULIE!" Mac screamed from the basement, faintly hearing his name. What'd he'd found in the basement was creeping the hell out of him and he wanted someone to see it--to make sure he wasn't crazy.

Julie looked around frantically, finally finding the door beside the stairs. She was in such a hurry she almost fell down the stairs, but a small light at the bottom also helped her to keep her balance. But as soon as she got to the landing, she felt herself feel just a little more scared than she had been in a while. It was a small room, four walls that made her feel suffocated.. All covered with pictures of Mac. There were some from crime scenes, some of him with friends, off the job and..

One with her in it. She recognized it as just a few nights ago, outside of the precinct when she'd run into Mac after getting knifed. She subconsciously touched the bandage that was still on her face, feeling her stomach clench into tight knots. Mac looked pale and when he spoke, his voice was teetering dangerously on the edge of losing it.

"Julie.. I suddenly don't feel very safe."

"Not to add to that feeling, but that photo can't be very old." she pointed to the one of them. "That means.."

"Someone's been here recently." Mac finished her sentence. "Very recently."

Julie gave a whine as she took a step backward unto the stairs. "Let's get out of here… we'll come back with back up and--"

Despite her voice, a loud thud could be heard from up the stairs. The light in the little room suddenly went out and for a moment, both of them stood in the silence and darkness. Then bolted up the stairs, making as little noise as they possibly could, Julie gripping her gun tightly. As soon as she was upstairs, she cried out and winced, shrinking back. The boards on the windows had been stripped off, in record time, and bright sunlight was streaming in. Not taking the time to let her eyes adjust, she looked around but saw nothing, though she heard running footsteps.

"POLICE!" She called, following the footsteps and running through the door that hadn't even had the chance to close. She saw a hooded figure just several feet in front of her and took off across the street after them. Behind her, Mac was in hot pursuit. He followed out the door but as he was crossing the street, a loud horn caused Julie to stop and look back. Mac stopped too, but unfortunately in the wrong place. Her eyes rounded as she saw the truck speeding towards him that really didn't look like it was planning on stopping.

"MAC!" She screamed, but he'd already jumped out of the way. Remembering her chase, she turned around just in time to see the figure cut into traffic then disappear between two buildings. With a groan, she went back across the street, stopping beside Mac who was trying desperately to catch his breath. "This is getting worse."

"No shit, Sherlock."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll call it in.."

**_CSI NY_**

"Uh.. The girl who stubbed her toe?"

The hopping stopped long enough for a glare to come his way, before resuming.

"A one legged freak?"

A growl of frustration escaped Julie's lips as she gave Flack a look of doom. He sighed heavily, throwing his arms into the air as he rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. "I give up! Who?"

"God! Have you never seen 'The Great Mouse Detective'? FIDGET!" She cried, holding one leg up again and hopping in circles, making herself look utterly ridiculous. "Oh, my foot my foot my only foot!" She cried in a gravely voice. At the blank looks meeting her eyes, she only growled again. "Losers.."

The commotion didn't even cause Mac to look up. He was settled in his office, the door slightly ajar, his face staring at nothing in particular. He was exhausted from the day, and the only thing he wanted to do was go home and sleep, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to. He didn't know if it was fear or extreme laziness but he had a bad feeling it was the former. He didn't like being scared, not like this anyway. It was different when you were in a Haunted House or watching a creepy movie. But when things that happened in those creepy movies were happening to you? Not so much fun. Especially when you were a calm person who was slowly going insane. Maybe that was what the stalker wanted.

His thoughts were interrupted as he noticed a small box on the guest chair across from his desk. He leaned forward, craning his head to read it. It was addressed to him. The return address was… Stella? Hmm. He picked it up and set it on his desk, clearing a few things aside. He unwrapped it rather slowly, mind barely able to comprehend what he was doing. As he opened the paper to reveal a white box, he heard a slight click as he opened the box. Interesting. Inside was a page from a day planner on top of a clock. The date on the day planner read March 23rd. Today. He lifted it to look at the clock which was set at 4:19. AM or PM? He wondered. Seeing something white underneath the clock, he lifted it to read a paper that had DEATH scrawled across it. And as he was setting the clock down, the back fell off.

"… Guys?"


	8. Chapter 8

"_..Guys?"_

Flack glanced up at Mac's office briefly, hearing him talk but not really paying attention. Danny was currently standing in the middle of the group, going from acting like he was playing the drums, to the guitar, the keyboard, and singing. He would take a few minutes between each transition to stop and bend down to the floor then come up with his hands spreading out further as he stood higher. Julie's brow was scrunched in thought as she watched him, while everyone else was taking random guesses.

"A one man band?"

"A crazy person!"

"An orchestra?" Sheldon called out with a hopeful look. Danny shook his head then continued his little show.

In his office, Mac was getting desperate. He didn't have near enough time to call the bomb squad and he had no idea where to start on something like this. It wasn't everyday you got a bomb in the mail. Actually, it couldn't have been through the mail they would have seen it. He told himself to focus, random thoughts weren't going to help anything. He looked out into the hall, seeing the group and he made his voice louder.

"Would someone come in here please?"

"Just a minute, Mac!" Flack called, frowning at Danny. "What's that hand gesture he keeps doing?"

"I've got it!" Julie cried. "Rammstein!"

"Thank you!" Danny gave a sigh of relief, throwing his hands into the air before dropping into a seat beside her. "A girl who knows of Rammstein. I might just have to marry you."

He received a smirk and a rather dark look from Lindsay that caused him to sink slightly in his seat. "Who's next?"

"I think Don is, isn't he?" Stella mused from her seat on the other side. Everyone slowly turned to look at her, slightly surprised but knowing looks on their faces. Almost everyone called Don Flack , 'Flack'. Even his last girlfriend had. And with what they knew.. It was entertaining to see Stella's slight blush.

"_JULIE!?"_

"I'm coming, mother!" Julie sighed, getting up from her seat and nearly tripping over Danny's feet as she left the circle to get to Mac's office. "No one start without me, its cheating. And you know what happens to cheaters don't you?"

"They become pumpkin eaters?" Sheldon laughed.

"No. They get their skin dyed yellow." She stuck her tongue out at him over her shoulder and turned around just as she entered Mac's office. "Whoa! What the hell are you doing!?"

Mac was holding up the clock, the back exposed to reveal a bomb that had 2 minutes left on the timer. "Know anything about bombs?"

Julie stared at him, a long moment passing before she broke into a grin. "You're kidding. You big goofball, don't give me a heart attack like that!" She laughed though it was a nervous laugh.

He stared. "I'm not kidding, Julie."

"Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" She cried, going to the bomb, then stepping back, stepping forward and stepping back again. "Mac!" She wailed.

"Julie can we please stop wasting time?! I'd rather not blow the lab up again." He was exasperated and more than a bit panicky as he looked down at the timer. One minute, 45 seconds. "How would one defuse a bomb?"

"Uhhh.." She bit nervously on a fingernail. "I don't know! The only time I ever defused a bomb was when I was helping my sister play a Nancy Drew video game and I blew up! Does that tell you anything!?"

"What's all the yelling about?" Flack walked in, took a look at the bomb and cried out. "Holy shit, Mac! What the hell is that?"

"A bomb." Mac bit out, considering violence. "We have to figure out how to stop this thing! Its not like we're in that video game you know!"

"What?" Flack asked, but his voice was drowned by Stella and Sheldon entering the room. Stella saw it and once she believed it, Julie noted her and Flack exchanging worried and somewhat mysterious glances. But there was no time to worry about him.

"I know, we can throw it out the window!" Julie smacked herself as soon as she'd said it. "Never mind, just the hysterical me making an appearance. Um… "

"What color are the wires.." Sheldon mused, going closer and examining the bomb. 55 Seconds.

"Isn't it always the red wire?" Stella guessed, looking around for approval.

"We're just going to blindly cut the wires!?" Julie squeaked. "Oh well. Flack, wire cutters. NOW."

Flack left the room in a hurry, but Mac had a feeling it would be too late. 48 seconds.

There was a lot of arguing until Flack came back with the cutters, and even then, it was extremely tense. 28 seconds on the clock.

"No time for sappy speeches," Mac sighed. "Ok.. Sheldon?"

"I'd say you cut the green one."

"Green? What about Red?"

"No, cut the blue one!"

Mac looked at them, wanting to be able to try every suggestion but he knew he couldn't. Time was slowly ticking off and he knew he had no choice but to try one and hope for the best. He grimaced and then cut the green wire. Nothing happened. Red. Nothing happened. Blue. Nothing happened. And when the clock finally hit zero, still nothing happened.

There was silence.

"Freaky bastards," was Julie's mutter.

_**CSI NY**_

"How you holding up?"

Honestly? He was a mess. He'd been through a hell of a lot, but this shredded your nerves and any kind of safe feeling you'd ever had in your entire life. All he wanted was for it to end and it looked like he'd never get that. Eventually he had to die, or the person doing it would. Wouldn't they? "Fine." he sighed, looking up as Julie sat down beside him. He was sitting on the back bumper of his truck, going over the events as of late in his head, repeating them and hoping they made a little more sense.

"That's bullshit. You can be honest you know."

He sighed again. "I know. But trying to be casual about it gives me a tad of control on the situation." He looked up at her, gaze meeting hers and holding. "I don't like sounding whiny."

She half smiled, hair blowing a bit in the strong chilly wind. "Mac, you don't sound whiny. Even if you did, you deserve it right now. Seriously, this is a hell of a thing to be going through. I'd suggest running off to some far away place but if the calls followed you to London.." She stopped, and an odd look crossed her face. "What ever happened to.. Peyton, wasn't it?"

Mac nodded grimly. His relationship with Peyton had been far from a fairytale romance and the end had been just as bitter as the beginning. The trip to London had done them some good, it'd made her realize she was miserable when away from there and that he really wasn't in love with her. It seemed like decades ago. "Like most relationships where you're not in love, it ended. She stayed in London and I came back. Nothing else to say, really."

She nodded, her face apologetic for touching the subject. "Sorry." She said, looking away from his gaze and digging deep into the pocket of her jacket.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Ancient history."

She looked back at him, but her eyes looked past him and he could tell she felt slightly uncomfortable. "I was married once."

His eyebrows raised. He never would have guessed. "Really."

She nodded. "Yeah. Guy named Aaron Vaughn. It was only for a few months, we realized we'd rushed into it and that we didn't really love each other.." She trailed off. "The divorce was easy but Aaron stayed mad at me. Wonder what happened to him.." By her tone of voice, she was probably wishing the man was dead.

"Wow. You don't look old enough to have been married and divorced."

She rolled her eyes to him and glared. "I'm older than you think, buddy. And if this is some kind of devious plot to get me to reveal my age, you can just open mouth and insert your foot because you aren't going to find out."

He chuckled lightly, leaning back, not even realizing their faces were close. "I'm not trying to pry your age out of you, don't worry." He paused." I can always look at your file."

She whacked him hard, causing him to break into a short bout of laughter before sobering and turning his gaze back on her. "I owe you, Julie. I really do."

She stared at him, shrugging slightly. "I'd like to say I'd do it for just about anyone."

There was a long pause as they continued to stare at each other, but it wasn't too long before a smirk appeared on her face. "Taylor, if you're going to kiss me, I'm not getting any younger." She was clearly having a hard time keeping a straight face. He laughed at her words as he leaned in.

"Alright, I like a girl with an attitude." Their lips met in a sweet kiss and several moments later, Julie pulled back with a sigh.

"I'm sorry all this is happening to you," She whispered, sincerity dripping from her voice. He shook his head.

"Not your fault." He whispered back. A minute later, the sound of Julie's cell phone came muffled from her pocket. She reached for it, staring at the display before sighing and turning back to him.

"I gotta go. Keep yourself alive, huh?" She stood.

"I'll try to." He responded grimly, pleasantly surprised when Julie bent for another kiss. "I'll see you later."

She nodded, and was gone.

_**CSI NY**_

In her dream, Mac Taylor was smiling at her and beckoning her to him, his shirtless form looking gorgeous in the bright sunlight. She smiled back at him and moved towards him, her feet touching the warm sand. A light breeze cooled the hot air and they were surprisingly surrounded by large, billowing trees. She was almost to him when she heard a loud, strange buzzing. She stopped, frowning and looking around for the source of the noise. After a few minutes she gave up and was closing the short distance between her and Mac when she heard it again.

The second buzz drew her from her wonderful dreaming, pulling her into harsh reality. She was draped awkwardly across her bed, feet hanging over the right side and her head snuggled into a crumpled pillow that she'd moved from the head of the bed. She was still in her day clothes, gun and badge on top of the wicker chest at the foot of her bed, buzzing cell phone on her nightstand. She groaned, reaching for it. It took her a few tries but she finally found it and pulled it into her hand. She flipped it open with one finger and put it to her ear. "Holmes," She muttered sleepily with a yawn, frowning when she didn't receive an immediate response.

"Julie?"

Stella's voice. Her frown deepened. "Ye-ah."

"Julie, have you seen Mac?" Julie glanced at the clock. It was currently four in the afternoon, meaning she hadn't seen him since seven o'clock last night.

"Uh.. Not today." She paused. "Why?"

"Julie.. He's.. Mac's missing."

**Author's Note: **Alas, people, as much as I love stringing Mac's torture as long as humanly possible, I don't want to overdo it. So depending, either the next chapter or the chapter after that will be the end of the story. I find myself once again apologizing for not updating, but I've been busy with school, life, illness and all sorts of things. I'll be trying for another chapter over the weekend but if it is indeed the last chapter, it might take a few weeks, so bear with me. Thanks for all the lovely reviews and as for my other stories, I doubt they'll be continued. I will be starting a new one after this is over but I'm not sure what I want to do yet, or if it'll even be CSI NY. So goodbye for now, look for the last chapter(s) in the coming weeks!

Jade


	9. Chapter 9

"M-missing?" She suddenly felt a very odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, something she couldn't identify. "Are you sure? I mean, has anyone called him, been by his apartment, anything?"

Stella's voice was sincerely frightened. A shouting Flack was in the background. "Yes, everything. Adam saw him leaving last night and that was it. His truck is still at the lab, Julie-- Do you think..?"

"No." Julie said firmly, trying to convince herself more than Stella. "He's just.. Gone off somewhere, to be alone." Yeah that was it, he was fed up with all of it and he'd gone off somewhere to clear his head. "Look, I'll run by his place see if he's there, talk to the doorman." She didn't care if they already had.

She heard Stella sigh. "Okay. If you hear anything, anything at all let me know okay?"

When Julie hung up, she felt tears of panic well in her eyes. She didn't know Mac terribly well, but she knew he wouldn't just up and leave without telling anyone.. Would he? Oh for God's sake, she couldn't handle this. What was she supposed to do? Yes, the man had needed her help as of late but what was she really hoping to accomplish when she had no clue--

She was rambling. She needed to stop.

"Breath, Holmes." She hissed to herself, cursing a bit. Okay, first stop, his apartment. Second stop, the Starbucks she'd seen him at before and final stop.. Well, maybe she'd check some hospitals.. A buzzing sound once again penetrated her panic filled thoughts and she snatched the cell phone quickly. "Holmes."

"Oh.. I'm sorry, I was under the impression this number belonged to someone else." The voice was light, pretty and it was easy to detect the British accent. There was also a lot of background noise but her brain was to muddled to process it.

"Who were you looking for?" The tone in the woman's voice set her on edge and she had a feeling that they'd be sizing each other up had they been face to face. Wasn't Mac's ex-girlfriend British?

"Mac. Mac Taylor." The woman paused. "Who are you?"

All sorts of snide remarks entered her head. Who the hell did the bitch think she was, calling her up and asking who she was? It wasn't any of her damn business? And why the hell was she looking for Mac. "A.. friend." She decided on. "Who gave you this number?"

"Mac said I could reach him at it." The way she kept saying 'Mac' made Julie want to bitch slap her. "Is that okay?"

"Uh, when was the last time you talked to him?" She wasn't sure how she felt about him giving out her number to strange people.

"Why, just a few hours ago. He said his cell phone might be dying and that I could reach him here and I really do need to tell him something."

A few hours ago? What the freaking hell? She held back a string of swear words that would more than likely get her struck by lightning and instead concentrated on deep breathes. "I don't suppose he mentioned where he was.." Casual, she was not. Her voice broke on every syllable.

There was another pause. "Why yes., he did. The park. He was waiting on a friend, someone named Henry."

_Henry. _God, there must have been thousands of people with that name in New York City. She went over a mental list of his friends. Nope, no Henry. She didn't think he had any relatives named Henry and.. "Ah. Well, uh, I'll have him give you a call back."

There was a giggling laugh. "I'm sure you will. Goodbye." The laugh sent chills down Julie's spine but she shook it off, she was just stressed and that was not a valid reason for being freaked out by people you didn't even know.

Glancing around her room and making sure she had everything she needed, she was out the door before you could say '911'.

**_CSI NY_**

"Something's wrong, I can feel it." Stella's hands were wringing the hell out of each other as she paced back and forth in front of a very tired looking Flack. He was sitting in an office chair, one hand leaned against his head as he watched her.

"Stel, we're doing everything we can. She wasn't going to do anything without telling us, right?"

"Right." Stella stopped, a frown on her pretty features. "I think. Oh, I should call her back."

"No, you don't want her getting suspicious. Right now, we just need to concentrate on finding Mac. I'm waiting for my tail to get me info on our guy." He leaned forward, grabbing one of Stella's hands, causing her to stop and look down at him. "Hey. He's gonna be alright, okay? Don't give yourself an aneurysm." His face slid into a teasing smile as he pulled her roughly but gently into his lap.

Stella sighed, putting an arm around his neck as she leaned her head unto his. "I can't take this not knowing, not doing anything. I-I've tried everything I just can't.."

"Shh." Flack whispered, reaching up to stroke her face. "We'll sort this out. I swear."

**_CSI NY_**

By the time she reached the park, it was dusk.

Children were abandoning the playgrounds and joggers were out, but the crowd became thinner the further she walked. It was a losing battle looking for one person in this park, but she figured she might as well try. She searched her memory for any hints as to where he might've enjoyed the most in the park, but she could think of nothing. Her eyes were everywhere as she walked and she could feel numerous eyes on her. As she walked past a bench occupied by a couple, hidden by newspapers, she suddenly felt her stomach tighten. A glance back caught a pair of pitch black sunglasses staring at her before ducking back behind the paper. Her fingers found her gun and she kept her hand there as she turned and began going deeper and deeper into the park.

She stayed alert and after awhile, she could hear the same footsteps and while they stayed a good distance behind her, they were still there. She now acted as if she were merely strolling through the park and stopped to 'tie' her shoe on a bench, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person. No one was there. Frustrated, she removed her foot from the bench and kept on, wondering if she was stupid for even trying.

The woman's voice, the laugh and everything she'd said suddenly replayed through her mind and she suddenly felt dread knot up in her stomach. Was she being led into a trap? She didn't know that for sure, but being safe rather than sorry was better in her books. From where she was in the park, if she broke into a run, it wouldn't be that far until she stumbled out and she could get a cab back to the other side and get her car and get the hell out.

But apparently, someone had other plans.

She felt someone behind her and before she could do anything, she felt something hard shoved into the middle of her back. "Well, hello Detective Holmes." The accent was thick, male, definitely a native New Yorker and she was almost positive it was a gun shoved into her back.

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Sarcasm was practically dripping from her voice. Someone stepped in front of her and she looked-- the woman in the sunglasses. She had long black hair and was a bit shorter than Julie. The man holding a gun to her back peeked around and flashed her a toothy grin. He had a full, slightly aging face and she couldn't bite back a snarl.

"No, we're connected through a mutual friend." His voice stopped short in a laugh that made her think of Peter Pettigrew trying out for the part of Darth Vader.

"Mac." Aha, the woman could talk. Holy freaking shit. The woman from the phone. God, she was not living up to her name today. She felt like she was in a TV show for heaven's sake.

"So it was a trap." She felt like crying. "Let me guess, Mac's with you?"

"Yes." The woman was the sole speaker for now. "It would have been nice to have him in his current position when I still loved him." Julie cringed. "But Angelo and I just have so much more in common."

She had a first name at least. She was pushing her luck but.. "Let me guess. You're Peyton."

"Clever girl." Her deduction earned her a bright smile. "I might just have to give you a dog treat. Angelo, get her to the van."

Angelo had grabbed her by the collar but as he was shoving her forward, she stumbled and threw her leg backwards to kick him in the groin. It was a direct hit and she had her gun out and trained between him and Peyton in two seconds. "Alright, take me to Mac."

"Foolish girl." Her tone was both amazed and condescending. "You really think it'll be that easy, don't you?"

She didn't answer, but actually she didn't.

In a flash, Angelo had tackled into her, but she managed to keep her grip on the gun and fired off a round in Peyton's direction. She skirted out of the way and disappeared from Julie's eyesight and she twisted on her side. Unfortunately, her recently un-bandaged knife wound on her cheek scraped harshly against the concrete and she cried out in pain. She threw an elbow into Angelo's head, fully on her back now and she worked to get a knee back into his groin and slammed her head into his. It was his turn to cry out and he fell off of her, holding his bleeding head. She pulled her gun around and held it on him, eyes darting about, but Peyton was already gone.

**Author's Note: Well, I guess the cat is kinda out of the bag. TADA! Can you guess who they are yet? (Please tell me you all remember Mr. Vanetti from Season 2) Originally, the stalkers/would-be-killers were supposed to be someone else but I couldn't do it because I didn't have the heart to, and secondly because this idea hit me. Rest assured, everything WILL be explained in the next--and last-chapter and remember, there's still some surprises I'm going to spring on you. The final chapter will probably be up within a few weeks and I might actually do an Epilogue, not sure. I hope you liked and I'm sorry for the shortness and suckiness of this chapter but I had to get this part over with in order to get to the conclusion. Remember, reviews are love!**

**Jade**


	10. Chapter 10

She felt sick.

Blood from her cheek that was escaping the hand towel pressed against it made her fingers sticky, and the scent wasn't helping the uneasy grumbling of her stomach. Hot tears had long ago been shed and she was left with puffy eyes and searing pain. She was sitting in a hard, metal desk chair outside of the lab's break room. She was in a stunned silence, eyes staring at nothing as people passed her, gave her curious glances. Stella and Flack were in the interrogation room with Angelo-- Vanetti, was the last name Flack had given her. Apparently he'd been an enemy of Mac's for a bit now, though she hadn't been given the whole story. Neither of the two had been surprised to hear of Peyton and her involvement in this. It made her curious.

"How's the face?" She looked up to see Flack's concerned eyes on her. He didn't look particularly happy and his hands were shoved into his pockets. She shrugged, looking back down. He bent slightly, reaching out and removing the towel to examine the area. "Jules, you might need to get that looked at."

"Its fine." It didn't feel like it, but it was. "He talking?"

With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. "Nope, not a word. I'm this close to putting a new meaning to police brutality."

No smiles on her face. "Huh."

He shifted uncomfortably for a moment before bending and looking across at her. "Julie, there's something we need to talk about."

She rolled her eyes in his direction, curiosity piqued, but kept her silence.

"Actually, something Stella and I need to talk to you about. It has to do with this whole stalker thing. We can explain everything minus Vanetti's and Peyton's parts."

Her eyes rounded and a chill of suspicion ran through her. "What do you mean?"

He didn't respond, but helped her to her feet and led her to the only secluded office, Mac's. Stella was already there, looking about as nervous as a cat in a room full of dogs. She gestured for Julie to sit down, which she did, and Stella sat in Mac's chair as Flack closed the door, closed the mini-blinds and finally sat down near Julie.

"Okay," Stella started. "No small talk. We'll get straight to it. We've been tracking Mac's stalkers for awhile now."

All sorts of questions flooded her mind but she held them back. Had Flack and Stella known who it was all along and nothing. Stella seemed to read her mind. "Before you jump to any conclusions, we weren't sure who it was and we didn't have enough proof to bring it up. We were suspicious when Peyton flew back to the states last year even after her and Mac broke up, but it wasn't anything concrete. Well one day when Flack and I were out," She blushed at this. "We saw Vanetti."

"And Peyton. Together." Flack piped up.

Julie looked between them, urging them to go on.

"After that, we were a little nervous. We wondered if Peyton knew who he was and started worrying about her, so we tried to track her down. When we finally did get a number for her, it was Vanetti's."

"Wait." Julie interrupted. "Was she stupid enough to put her name on a cell phone or whatever when she was here to.. Torture Mac?"

"Not exactly. We were calling all sorts of places to see if she had any utilities turned on or anything and called the Times. Apparently, she'd subscribed to the newspaper. The address she gave was also Vanetti's." Stella paused, fiddling with her fingers for a moment before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Anyways, we let it go for awhile, and as you know, the attacks on Mac started escalating and Flack and I started keeping an eye out.. We started seeing either Vanetti, Peyton or both of them around when these things happened and.."

"That's why we were so concerned when you and Mac started getting serious." Flack started, giving Julie a small smile. "We didn't really want to have to look after another person, but you held your own and no attacks started on you. We were still worried and it really alarmed us when you two traipsed off to that warehouse." She'd almost forgotten about that. "Which, we believe that was one of Vanetti's favorite hide outs. He apparently thought Mac was very photogenic."

"I'm sorry if you think we should have told Mac, but we honestly didn't think it was Peyton and we thought Vanetti was just a coincidence. Believe me, we feel awful."

Julie nodded slowly, she understood. She was just having a hard time processing it. Part of her was relieved; for awhile there, she'd really been starting to think that the two had something to do with it. She now scolded herself for ever even thinking of it. The other part of her was nervous. As Danny had explained to her, Angelo had been part of the mob or something and had killed someone for killing someone related to him, and ever since, Mac had been trying to pin him for the murder and apparently, Angelo wanted to make sure he never did. Would Peyton kill Mac? "How.. How are we going to find him?" Her voice was a little more broken than she would have liked, but she couldn't help it and didn't stop to fret over it. Stella and Flack exchanged a look and she felt her stomach flip-flop.

"Unless Angelo starts talking, we don't know."

_**CSI NY**_

"Alright, Mr. Vanetti. I'm sure you remember me."

The smirk was a most definite yes. It also made Lindsay shudder slightly as she sat across from him. He was handcuffed and he was far enough away from her, but being in the same room with the man made her want to vomit.

"You got nothing on me." He sneered, glancing at the window before looking back to her. She wondered if he was working on an escape plan.

"Actually, we do." It was her turn to smirk. "We may not have you for Detective Taylor's stalking or kidnapping yet, but we have for you for assaulting an officer."

He glared at her, but clearly didn't regret it. "Whatevah."

"So, Mr. Vanetti." She sighed, leaning back and glancing quickly through the files set before her on the metal table. As she peered closely at the picture of the bloody t-shirt, she tucked her hair over her ear and smiled as she glanced back at him. "What was this all about?" She shoved the picture in front of him.

He stared at it for a long moment, then looked away, squirming. "I don't know."

"Mr--"

"A'ight, a'ight. Supposed to tell him it was gonna be him." He was clearly losing patience in the small room. So Holmes had been right on the Mafia angle.

"Whose blood is it?"

He didn't answer.

She sighed. "What about the phone calls?"

He snorted. "That wasn't me. Least not at first." The man looked at her, eyes almost gleaming. "It started out as Peyton but once we hit it off, she had me do it." He licked his lips as he let loose a low laugh.

She suddenly felt sick. "How did you and Peyton meet?"

Angelo rolled his eyes at her, but humored her. "She found me. Said she heard about me and wanted to know if I'd help her with her little freak show with Taylor. I agreed of course, I hate the guy and the sex is great."

Lindsay cringed visibly. "I'm sure. Did Peyton ever say why she wanted to do all this to Mac?"

Vanetti stared at her, hard. He was silent for so long that she was ready to give up and call it quits on her end, but then he spoke. "It wasn't her idea. Yeah, she was upset with him that he wouldn't go and live in London, and she did say she wished she thought of it first. She said if she couldn't have him, no one could and that was before that Holmes girl came into the picture. After she did though, she wanted to kill him even more. But the kidnapping wasn't in the plan. She didn't tell any of us."

Lindsay leaned forward, a frown coming unto her face. "Who else was involved?"

_**CSI NY**_

"Julie! Great news! We picked a number off Vanetti's cell and traced it back to a landline. We're goin' after Mac." Flack was all smiles as he bounded up to Julie, hands at his side. It was probably almost dawn of the next day. Julie had spent the night at the lab, helping in any way she possibly could. Several people had tried interrogating Vanetti, minus herself, and it was currently Monroe's turn. She'd just gone in less than two seconds ago.

She felt herself smile, which caused pain to shoot through her cheek. It was once again covered with a bandage though the bleeding had stopped. She suddenly felt her heart leap. "Amazing, Flack, amazing." She grinned, turning around and picking up her gun that was on Mac's desk. "I'm ready when you are."

"Yeah, I was just comin' to get you. We'll suit up then head out." They talked little while they put on their bullet proof vests and Julie couldn't help but notice that Stella seemed a little mad, but shrugged it off. She should be mad, mad that someone had done all that they had. Namely that Peyton and Vanetti.

She was a little surprised to see that it was only going to be the three of them, but Flack assured her any more force was unnecessary and of course they'd call out the team to process and paramedics if needed, too. She said nothing else as they left the lab. A glance at the clock on the dash told her it was 5:10 in the morning. Had she gotten any sleep? She didn't think so. It didn't take long to get there, it was an old house in what looked like what had once been a nice neighborhood. It was large, two stories and seemed to go on forever in the back. The driveway sloped around the back and led to an old barn-type looking garage and all the windows were boarded up. There was one streetlight, so she found a flashlight from the backseat and prepared herself as best she could. She found it was better not to think about what she was doing and just do it. She didn't even want to think about what could possibly be happening to Mac.

It was silent as they got out of the SUV. She followed Flack and Stella's leads, though she'd probably been on the job longer than any of them, and noticed it odd that they didn't head for the house first, or even split up. Had the call traced back to the Garage, she wondered in a brief moment of stupidity. They didn't even bother knocking on the door. They just burst in and what happened next made her head swim.

It took only seconds.

The first thing she saw, was Mac. He was lying on a cot, handcuffed to it and he was either asleep or unconscious. Two seconds later he opened his eyes, meeting hers. They rounded in alarm and he shook his head, opening his mouth to shout at her, but Stella and Flack were screaming so loud for Peyton, she couldn't hear him. She watched his mouth intently, only making out a few words.

_Go.. Flack.. Never.. She.. Saw.. _She never saw Flack go? What the hell? Her attention was immediately drawn to the gun shoved up against her head. She rolled her eyes to see Peyton, glaring at Stella and Flack who had just entered the room. Peyton immediately dropped the gun from her head.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She snapped, accent once again making Julie cringe. She pulled her gun on her but frowned when she saw that Flack and Stella were not mirroring her actions.

Stella was glaring at Peyton as well and Flack looked livid. A far cry from their earlier expressions, especially Flack. "I could ask you the same thing, Peyton. When Holmes shows up with Vanetti saying someone named Peyton is Mac's kidnapper, we almost died. Vanetti told us you broke the deal and we clearly saw that ourselves. What gives?"

Julie opened her mouth to speak, but Peyton cut her off. "You were just beating around the bush will all your stupid antics, you knew he'd survive all of those. And you knew I wanted him dead just as much as you, but I was beginning to wonder if you weren't just setting me up." Her glare was fierce as she gestured to Mac, who was still trying to talk to Julie, but without actually talking or moving his hands.

"Well excuse us for trying to throw suspicion off of ourselves instead of going in, guns blazing!" Stella cried, throwing her arms into the air. A shouting match erupted and she was forgotten for the moment. She could feel her jaw hit the ground. _Stella and Flack!?_ They had been in on the whole thing? But.. The story.. Realization hit her. They were trying to set Peyton up.

"Guys," She cleared her throat, drawing Flack's attention. "We've got her, no need for the charade. Let's just arrest her and get the hell out of here."

Flack glowered. "What?"

For the first time, Mac spoke up. "Julie.. Stella and Don aren't undercover." His gaze was saddened as she turned to him, feeling panic seep through her veins.

"Damn it, she knows!" Flack suddenly threw her roughly against the wall, grasping her neck tightly as he used his other hand to shove his gun to the middle of her forehead. Just then, she felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. She wanted to answer it so bad, to scream for help. Stella and Flack could kill her, Peyton, and Mac, claim Peyton had shot her so then she had to be taken down, and Mac had already been dead or something like that. So this was how she was going to die. But she didn't want to die.

She groaned as the cell phone continued to vibrate, causing the area underneath it to ache from the movement of the cell phone. Stella and Peyton were still arguing, but she noticed that Stella was gripping her gun a little tighter. As for Vanetti, if they kept him alive, no one would ever believe him.. Would they? Oh well, it'd be too late for her. She glanced at her gun, resting on the floor, fallen from her hand when she'd been tossed against the wall. It was all happening so fast and she hadn't expected this.. God, she wanted to die. No she didn't. at least not here, not now.

"Flack, c'mon." There was no way in hell she'd beg but she had to try and convince him not to do this. "What are you honestly getting from this?"

"HE HURT HER!" Flack shouted into her face, causing her to flinch ever so slightly. "I love Stella and I always have, but first, she loved Mac and he never even gave her a stupid second glance! While I got her out of it, he's only gonna keep hurting other people!"

"Flack, you're insane. You need help, all of you need--" The cell phone stopped vibrating and a gun smacked her across the face. She didn't yelp, cry out or anything, but as she fell to the floor, slightly stunned, her sarcastic mind couldn't help but think that both cheeks were going to be scarred, now. Lovely.

"Keep it up, and they'll be burying you in a closed casket." He threatened, keeping the gun on her as he shook his head, hand on his forehead as he walked back to Stella, who patted him comfortingly before turning back to Peyton.

Julie stayed on the floor, listening to them argue, and closed her eyes. The noise was too much and her head was swimming. She saw Mac staring at her, concerned, out of the corner of her eye but couldn't even muster the will to look at him. By no means was she seriously hurt, or wallowing in self-pity, but the more she sat there, the more she tried to think of a plan that would work. If she could just reach her gun, they could have a stand-off, or she could shoot them in all the shoulder, free Mac, and get the hell out of there. But the problem was, getting to her gun. She must have been staring at it, because Flack gave her an odd look that rather resembled Darth Maul's as he was watching Kenobi plan his death, and she almost laughed. However, the urge to laugh disappeared when he came over, and slammed the gun across her face again, and aimed for her head. She jerked and kicked him, and his blow landed across the side of her face, near her eyes. She was well aware of how bloody her face must've been, but it didn't slow her down. Tuning out all the noise in the room, she geared a leg up and was about to kick him in the groin, when the door burst open.

"POLICE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"

Flack immediately dropped the gun, shoving it towards Julie. "Thank god, she'd just gotten my gun, I was trying to get it--"

"Don't listen to them!" Mac shouted, jutting his head towards Flack then Stella. But the first police officer in the door was smiling as he motioned for another to cuff Flack.

"Don't worry, sir. Vanetti confessed everything, we know what's going on." Behind him, appeared Lindsay, Danny, and Sheldon, all worried looking and Lindsay looked to Julie.

"I knew something was up when you didn't answer. We were already on our way, Vanetti told us where Peyton would be holding Mac." The brunette frowned at her face. "Danny, call an ambulance."

"I'm fine," Julie waved her off, watching as Flack, Stella, and Peyton were led outside. Stella glanced back to glare at her and Mac, before she was shoved out the door. Julie ambled to her feet, struggling to keep her balance as she leaned down, freeing him from his bonds. The minute his hands were free, he swung into a sitting position and took her face into his hands, stroking her through the blood.

"You are so brave," She heard him murmur softly. "And you're not okay."

She grinned, closing her eyes. "Brave, but stupid. Some Sherlock Holmes I am." She opened her eyes to look at him. "And its you who should be fussed with, you were kidnapped for god's sake."

"But she didn't hurt me," he reminded her gently. "And you aren't stupid. I never saw any of this coming."

"Yeah, but you probably found out about Stella and Flack before me. They fed me a story that they saw Peyton and Vanetti together and started getting worried, tracked her down and noticed they were always around after your 'attacks'." Wow, she was thinking pretty coherently. Too bad she saw stars.

"Didn't make me any less surprised." His face tightened. "I'm sorry, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have--"

"Stop it, I hate cliché." She groaned, closing her eyes again. "I could say the same but I don't feel like arguing, so we're both dumb-asses, how's that?"

She felt him chuckle before she heard it. He'd drawn her close to him. "Sounds good, Holmes." his fingers touched the bandage softly. "What happened, I thought it healed."

"It did. Vanetti and I got into a scuffle and I got very close to some sidewalk," her voice was as dry as a Texas summer. "You make some pretty funny enemies, Mac."

He agreed, and they stayed like that until the paramedics arrived.

**_CSI NY_**

_Six Months Later_

"I am never forgiving you for this."

"Ah, you'll get over it."

"No, I won't. This is unforgivable. Beyond unforgivable. Seriously, it would be like FOX asking the _Firefly _fans to get over it.

"You are such a drama queen. And what's _Firefly_?"

"… I hate you."

Mac chuckled as he glanced over at Julie, whose arms were folded tightly across her chest and she was glaring at him. Her face was so tightly scrunched together, it made him laugh even more.

"Maaaaac!" She whined, slamming a foot down. "You already got me into a dress and now you make me eat with chopsticks? Who do you think I am, Wonder Woman?!"

He laughed at her expense again, leaning down and kissing her slightly scarred cheek before sliding his arm around her. "Come on, it won't be that bad. If nothing else, you can ask for a fork. We never really got a fancy first date. This is a sort of.. Do over."

"But--"

"Hush, Julie." He silenced her by clamping a hand over her mouth and when she glared, he quickly retracted it before she could bite him or otherwise. They were standing outside of a fancy Chinese restaurant, where Julie was throwing her little fit. She looked gorgeous in a knee-length dark purple dress, oddly enough, matching the dress shirt he wore. He'd teased her about it all the way there.

"Fine," She snapped, stepping forward to go inside. As she went, he grabbed her arms and pulled her backwards, almost causing her to lose her balance. He pulled her into a one armed embrace, his other hand stroking her cheek. Traces of what had happened that morning months ago were still there, and he still couldn't believe he'd found her. She looked up at him, eyes watching him curiously.

"I love you," He whispered, bending his head and quickly giving her a sweet kiss.

"I love you," She whispered back, tilting her head as she kept her gaze on him.

He grinned down at her, sliding her to his side and starting for the door. "Come on, Sherlock, let's eat."

-FIN-

**Author's Note: **WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Its finished! But YAY! And BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I bet you NEVER EVER EVER IN A MILLION FREAKING YEARS saw THAT one coming! Originally, Stella and Flack were the stalkers. Then I changed it because I thought Peyton and Angelo were a terrifyingly lovely couple and then it hit me.. what if the four were in cahoots? BAM! You get this! I feel pretty darn proud of myself right now. :D And I hope you all love the final scene, I felt the need to end it with something cutesy. So, here come my thanks: I'd like to thank my wonderful readers and faithful reviewers. You are all AWESOME! And you sure know how to give a girl a hell of an ego trip! My biggest thanks goes to **Dawni**, because without her, this story would never exist and she was my brains when Writer's Block hit. You're awesome, girl! So sadly, this story has come to an end but more stories are on the horizon! Since I got such a great response to Julie, I'd like to know if you guys would like to see her in some sequels, y'know, keep up with the Julie/Mac storyline. Love the idea? Hate it? LET ME KNOW!! Again, thanks to all you wonderful people!

**Jade**


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